


coloring around us

by losangelou



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: (The coming out is forced but I promise there is justice!), Alternate Universe - Royalty, Anal Fingering, Anal Sex, Arranged Marriage, Coming Out, F/M, Leader Louis, Louis doesn't ask for permission first but I promise Harry was okay with it, M/M, One Night Stands, Riding, Spanking, also deserves a tag, queen jay, she deserves her own tag
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-16
Updated: 2017-08-16
Packaged: 2018-12-16 01:45:25
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 35,794
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11818608
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/losangelou/pseuds/losangelou
Summary: Prince Louis never planned on doing anything other than marrying Perrie, something that had been arranged for years, and becoming the King of England after his mother's reign is over.Hooking up with Harry Styles changes all of that.





	1. one

**Author's Note:**

  * For [catherinecross](https://archiveofourown.org/users/catherinecross/gifts).



> Hello everyone! First off, I hope that @catherinecross loves this fic so much. I worked quite hard on it. I actually would like to write more of this verse if it's received well because I enjoyed it so much. I strayed from what you wanted a little bit, but I hope that that's okay. I also hope you enjoy the way things play out, even with some things you didn't ask for (particularly their coming out story). It may not be received well, but I hope you like how it's handled, especially the aftermath). I also have some notes for you below in my list and overall, I just hope you enjoy this! <3
> 
> Now onto more personal notes: This is my first big fic! Go me! I'm so glad I could partake in the exchange. Thank you to K for being a great encouragement/beta. Thank you to L for reading this over and telling me how much you loved it! Thanks to T for encouragement, in life and fangirling and writing. Another big shout out to Eden for Britpicking and helping me do some age mathematics. <3
> 
> Lastly, I have a few disclaimers/notes so bear with me!  
> 1) I need to address something from the tags: Harry and Louis are forced out in this fic, but they are given warning ahead of time and it allows Jay, Louis, and Perrie to all be badasses who won't take any shit from anyone. I know this wasn't part of the prompt, but I hope the way this ends helps make up for this!  
> 2) Another thing from the tags: Louis spanks Harry in this, but Harry doesn't consent beforehand. However, no Larry fic is complete (imo) without a good spanking and Harry is on board with it. (Trust me. He likes.)  
> 3) I am not English. I may have made some mistakes here or there with the British aspects of this, but I tried my hardest and researched things, such as Louis' schooling and his age and how that'd all play out.  
> 4) I'm sorry if there isn't enough artist!Harry in here, but I tried my best to mention it and give him a scene or two to talk about it.  
> 5) I included Robin and Jay in this and I hope this is something the whole fandom can appreciate. They're both very special to this fandom and I know using them now is bittersweet. I think Jay's storyline in particular is quite lovely!  
> 7) Please enjoy this and leave a comment and kudos! Let me know if there's any mistakes/errors, be it grammatical or Brit-picking, and I will try to find and fix them!

“You’re kidding me, right?”

Louis looked up, shaking his head. “My dearest Neil, I am _never_ kidding when it comes to this.” He batted his lashes, his hand already closing around the shot glass in front of him.

Niall sighed, grabbing the one next to Louis’ and lifting it in the air. He looked up to the air before shouting,  “Shots on me, everybody!”

Cheers and applause sounded around the room, one man even going so far as to shove two fingers in his mouth and whistle. Louis glanced at the man, a smirk on his face. He was all for men who appreciated free alcohol.

Louis downed his shot at the same time as Niall, slamming the glass down on the bar as the applause finally died down. He patted Niall, who was shaking his head and making a disgusted face, on the shoulder before moving around him. “Get us some more shots, lad. I’m gonna find us a table.” Niall only nodded in response, succumbing to the angst his wallet was surely feeling. Louis walked past the other, glancing around the room. He found an empty booth, sliding in and adjusting his maroon shirt _just_ enough that his collarbones were on display.

The plan for the night was to get laid, nothing less, and nothing more. Being royalty meant he didn’t get to pull a lot, especially when his face was plastered on television and computer screens all over the world while his mum was getting closer and closer to her Silver Jubilee — the celebration of 25 years of her reign over the United Kingdom — so he naturally was in the public more and more lately. For Louis, his mother’s Jubilee was more than a celebration of her years as queen; it was a celebration of her years as a mother, too.

It had been a shock to the world when his grandfather had died, especially because he was 95 and in good health. It had also been a shock when his mother had become Queen of England at only 23 while pregnant with him. He’d been with her almost as long as she’d been the ruler of this country and he’d be damned if he didn’t make it known how proud he was of her. Johannah deserved the world and Louis was well aware of that, so much so that he had been skipping his usual nights out to attend to “family duties” while his days were full of coursework. However, with his studies over for the summer hols, he was finally able to focus on his “family duties” and, well, having fun.

This was the first time in _months_ that Louis would be able to get off with someone else, his weekend free of public events now that the Jubilee was just a week away, and he couldn’t _wait_ to just let loose. Earning his master’s degree didn’t lead to much free time, but piling on royal duties to the hard work he was doing to earn his degree left him spending Friday nights rubbing elbows with diplomats rather than knocking boots with pretty boys with curly hair.

Speaking of, The Excited Whistler (Louis’ nicknaming skills were subpar at best) was staring at him from across the room, nursing a beer and practically _sucking_ on the bottle. Jesus. That was… something. Louis fixed his fringe, a soft smirk on his face. He could tell the other was interested, based solely on the way he licked his lips before standing up. _Oh._ He was definitely going to be joining them, then. Well, Niall would just have to live with it, then.

“Should you really be drinking a beer when my _lovely_ Irish mate is buying everyone shots?”

That got a soft chuckle out of The Excited Whistler, who ran his thumb over the lip of his beer bottle.

“I did. See, it got this cute boy’s attention from the other side of the room, so I think your mate will be okay with it. May I?”

Alright. Cheeky... Cheeky, polite, and a fucking _tease._ Louis could work with this. He gestured towards the opposite bench from him and tried not to focus on how The Excited Whistler was practically crawling into the booth and giving Louis quite the show of his bum out with his hands on the bench and the table top. That was definitely not the picture Louis needed in his head while he was sober. “I don’t think that’s the proper way to sit down on a bench, mate,” Louis teased, smirking.

The other brunet smirked, “I’m well aware. ‘m Harry, by the way. And you’re…?”

 _Oh._ This was odd. Very nice, but odd. He couldn’t remember the last time someone asked him for his name. This kid had to have been drunk out of his mind by now if he didn’t recognize the future King of England. Louis went with it, nonetheless, and stuck his hand out confidently. “Louis. Nice to meet you. You’ve got quite the whistling skills.”

Harry smirked, shrugging his shoulder and causing his shoulder length hair to tumble off of it. “Well, Louis, I will _always_ whistle for a good shot.”

“A man after my heart, aren’t you?” Louis leaned forward, looking around to see if Niall was coming so he didn’t hear what Louis said next. “To be honest, I only convinced him to do it because I forgot my wallet to pay for my own and I told him that if he didn’t, I’d show his mum a video of him doing shots and smoking weed while wearing just a beanie.”

This development brought a rather large — and loud — cackle out of Harry, the man slapping a hand over his own mouth to quiet his cackles. He was cute, a tease, _and_ had a dorky laugh. He truly was messing with Louis’ head just a little bit. He’d never met someone so hot yet cute at the exact same time.

Harry had a toothy smirk on his face when he spoke again, clearly over his giggling fit — and unaware of Louis’ mental anguish over how gorgeous he was. “Am I allowed to ask how he wound up in just the beanie and why he was so public about it?” He took another drink from his beer, eyebrows raised in curiosity.

Louis shrugged, “All I can say is that once the weed hit him, he complained about being hot, ate a bunch of crisps, then needed to wash it down. That’s where the alcohol came in, quickly followed by nudity.”

“I see. But why’d he keep the beanie on, then?”

That earned a soft giggle from Louis, his hand automatically coming up to shield his mouth as he tried to contain it. “He insisted that he keep it on because he’d had a cold all week and he insisted it was best so he didn’t lose body heat.”

Harry laughed, more contained and less hyena-esque. No, this time it was more like soft chuckles and calloused skin on silk sheets. He was breathtaking.

Now all Louis had to do was make sure this was a sure thing and, hopefully, get pissed enough that this guy wouldn’t remember him the next day. He knew he wasn’t meant to do this because of his own privacy and safety, but it was best to do it with someone who was drunk and to be drunk himself. It meant plausible deniability for both of them; there were plenty of men in Britain with Louis’ caramel hair and tan skin, which meant any drunk man wouldn’t be believed if they claimed to spent the evening with the heir to England’s throne. It was cruel — perhaps even heartless — but Louis knew it had to be done if he wanted to sleep with this guy.

However, maybe this guy was just playing coy and knew who he was. _Everyone_ knew who he was at this point. He was in the press at least once a month since he was a baby. He’d honestly be surprised if Harry didn’t know who he was. It was just a fact. However, his mum _had_ tried awfully hard to keep him out of the press as a child. It was plausible that Harry had no clue.

Louis wasn’t going to dwell on it right now. He had other things to think about, such as the loud Irishman he heard coming towards their booth. “I see you’ve made a friend. Thanks for the whistle, mate. Meant a lot now that I’m a solid hundred quid short of me rent now. Cheers.” Niall aimed a glare at Louis as he set down a shot in front of both of them.

“Niall, I don’t have any money on me. You know this. I say you brought this on yourself.” Louis scooted over some to give Niall extra leg room as he sat down next to him. He couldn’t help but notice that Harry was parallel to him. _Interesting._

Harry was smiling, dimples in place and eyes just a little glazed over from the alcohol in his system. “The whistle was my pleasure. I get the feeling Louis is a bit of a handful for you?”

Niall took a long drink of the beer in his hand, his own shot clearly long forgotten. “You’ve no idea. I’m Niall, by the way.” He leaned over the table, clanking his bottle with Harry’s shot glass before Harry took the shot, throwing his head back.

Louis wasn’t going to let anyone know how hard he was staring at Harry’s throat while this was happening or how his trousers suddenly felt a little less roomy in the crotch. Nope.

Based on the way Harry set his shot glass down, licking his sinfully red lips and smirking, Louis had a feeling Harry planned exposing his throat. _Also interesting._

“I’m Harry. Nice choice in alcohol,” he said, his eyes on Niall while his right shoe pressed into Louis’ left calf. Louis nodded in agreement, downing the shot as Harry’s boot migrated just a bit further north to the inside of his calves.

He was most definitely going to need at least two or three more if Harry was going to keep this up.

**xxxxxxxxxx**

It turned out that “at least two or three more” actually meant three more shots and two beers. Louis was drunk. That wasn’t a bad thing, though, despite what his mum would have to say or the shit he would have to take in the morning from The Sun or Daily Mail.

It also turned out that Harry could maintain his knack for being adorable yet sexy even when he was drunk and dancing around the pool table in the bar with his hair tossed into the most haphazard bun he’d ever seen. (Which, honestly, was saying something because Louis’ had six women living under the same roof with him for his whole life.)

Louis wasn’t sure how it happened, but they had decided to play pool. It had started as a simple game with every player fending for themselves, but it turned out Harry was as coordinated as a newborn deer when he was drunk. In hindsight, the way he’d crawled into the booth earlier in the night should have been indication enough that maybe he was just drunk and not sex-crazed like Louis originally thought. Nonetheless, Louis realized he needed to help out Harry.

Niall did _not_ find the idea as great as Harry did.

“Bloody unfair. He’s got long arms and you’ve got good technique _and_ balance,” Niall complained, taking a swig from his beer.

Louis shrugged. “Niall, mate, I’m just helping our new friend who’s in need. I’m nothing if not charitable.” He smirked, sure he saw Niall rolling his eyes as Louis took his position behind Harry, reaching his arm out to steady where Harry was attempting to line up his shot.

Harry glanced back at him, bending his torso just a bit further. “D’ya think I can make a long shot and get that ball over there?”

“The red one, babes?” Louis was unaware of the petname slipping out until Harry giggled, turning his head to stifle a giggle into his shoulder.

He nodded, biting his lip. “I wanna beat Niall. That’ll put us over, won’t it?”

 _Us_ was definitely a word Louis could get used to Harry using to refer to the two of them. It just sounded so good coming out of those lips. Oh. Right. Harry wanted an answer.

He nodded, leaning further over Harry until he was half on top of him, allowing him to see over Harry’s shoulder and get a hand on the cue if he need be. He could smell his hair, his cologne, his sweat. He could feel his round hips against his hand and his own stomach. God, this was going to kill him or get him shit from his mother for the next decade for refusing security and having a one night stand. Well worth it already, he decided, as Harry turned his head just a bit to meet his eye. “‘m thinking if we win you should just hold me like this as my prize.”

Louis wasn’t going to deny Harry of any prize he wanted. A stuffed animal, a cheap toy dispenser ring, a new Rolls Royce; Harry could have all of Kensington Palace if he so much as batted his eyes. “That can, uh, definitely be arranged, Harold. But we have to focus on the ball first, don’t we?” He raised his eyebrow, nodding slightly towards the table they were both bent over and trying not to focus on the blood in his body rushing below his waist.

“I always focus on the balls,” Harry mumbled, gripping onto the pool cue a bit harder and closing one eye. Louis was glad _he_ was concentrating on sinking the ball because that comment was doing things to his dick. So much for his whole “focussing” idea.

“Hurry the hell up,” Niall sighed, staring at his watch, “I need another pint if you two are going to be acting like teenagers all night.”

Harry took a deep breath — and, since Harry was drunk, so did Louis — before pulling the cue back just enough to tap the ball and send it into a slow roll. It went straight ahead towards the pocket, curving into the corner of the pocket as it sunk in.

Thank _God,_ though Louis wasn’t above the idea of flat out asking Harry if he could go to his place (he didn’t need his mum to know he’d brought Harry to a shared flat with Niall near campus, thanks). He felt way better about the fact that Harry winning meant, well, _Louis_ had won. He’d felt cocky about it at first, but Harry’s attention was nothing compared to Harry’s presence. He hadn’t known him for more than a few hours and Louis was already thanking every higher power there was that Harry wanted to be in any remotely sexual position with him.

Kind of like the one they were still in because Harry was just happily clutching the cue. “I think this means you have to stay with me like this, doesn’t it?” He turned his head to look at Louis, smirking.

Niall interrupted them, taking the cue from Harry carefully. “Sorry, lad. Seems like there’s a few girls that want to play,” he said, nodding towards a group of girls standing nearby with cues in their hands. “Why don’t you two go back to the booth?” He nodded towards it as Harry stood up straight, nearly tripping over his own boot and giggling about it while Louis put his hands on his hips and kept him stable.

“C’mon, love. Let’s get you to the booth and maybe get a bit of water,” he suggested, steering Harry towards their original booth with his hands still on his hips.

Harry looked over his shoulder at him and slowed down enough to safely turn around. Louis kept walking him backwards, albeit cautiously, as Harry spoke, “Do we have to? I was hoping I could get my prize now.”

 _Oh._ Louis could definitely make that work. He gave Harry’s hips another squeeze, turning back to see what Niall was doing. Niall, apparently, learned from the very best flirt he knew and was teaching one of the girls how to play pool. Luckily, they weren’t that far away and he didn’t have to shout or anything to get Niall to hear him. “Ni? I’m gonna take Harry home,” he spoke up, aware of Harry’s eyes on his face. He swallowed hard as Niall waved him off, nodding his head.

“Have fun, you crazy kids. Text me!” The Irishman called out, winking at Louis. The ridiculousness of that left Louis to roll his eyes in return before he was turning back to Harry.

Harry, who was currently eyeing him up like he was the flavor of the day, hummed softly and looped his arms around Louis’ neck. “Home? Yours? Or mine?”

Based half on his mother’s expectations of him and half on the way Niall was pressed up against a short blonde himself, Louis knew his answer: “Yours. I’ll call a cab, okay?”

All he received in response was Harry burrowing into his neck, humming softly. Louis wasn’t going to argue with that. He pulled up the number to his personal driver (being royal had its perks, okay?) and texted him: _@ Pub. Pick up. I’ll give address when you get here. Discrete a.p._

 _When am I not discrete as possible? ;) 5 mins away. Uber?_ Sometimes Louis didn’t know why he put up with Alberto’s teasing, but he also knew the honest answer was because Alberto could give it as well as he could take it. He texted back a simple thumbs up emoji, feeling slightly guilty for the whole thing. He didn’t want to lie to Harry, but he also knew he’d never see him again.

“Lou? How long?” Harry asked, nuzzling into his jaw before giggling at his own innuendo. God, he was cute.

Louis smoothed a hand through his hair, being sure to run his hand over the especially stringy bits at the back of his head that were falling out of his bun. “It’ll be about five minutes. Wanna wait outside?”

Harry nodded, pulling Louis along as he lazily walked through the slight mess of people around the pub. Louis opened the door for him, smiling at the way Harry smirked and mumbled something along the lines of “a true gentleman.” Louis would gladly take that compliment from him anyday.

Once they were outside and onto the pavement, Louis knew he had to really make a move. He wrapped his arm around Harry’s waist, pulling him closer and guiding him backwards into the wall of the pub. He could hear Harry’s breath hitch, his torso move with the force of it, as his free hand pressed to the side of his neck.

“I like waiting outside,” Harry whispered, leaning forward to meet Louis halfway.

It wasn’t like many other kisses Louis had ever had from a hook-up before. Harry was all passion and very little thought. He didn’t know the last time it felt like someone was coaxing his soul out with their tongue, but Harry somehow was able to do that. Louis kept up easily, though, swiping his tongue into all the right crevices of Harry’s mouth and paying extra attention to suck onto the defined arch of his cupid’s bow. Harry pulled back on a whine, leaning his head back against the wall to gain his breath.

“Can I…?” Louis whispered, his head already heading towards Harry’s neck. He was going to kiss it no matter what. “You don’t have, like, a presentation or something that I’ll wreck, do you?”

Harry giggled, shaking his head no before giving Louis an even better angle on the whole expanse of his neck. “I work with kids daily, Lou, but all the questions will be worth it. I want everyone to know how lucky I got.”

Christ… This man was going to ruin him. He already had Louis’ jeans feeling tight. It didn’t help matters any when he whimpered as soon as Louis’ teeth pressed into his skin. He nipped gently, soothing the spot with a sweet kiss before sliding the hand on his neck into Harry’s hair.

He pulled away slowly, pressing one last kiss to Harry’s mouth. Louis’ hand eased out of his hair, landing on his jawline. “We should calm down before the car gets here. Just so we’re clear here… Do you want me to fuck you?” That question earned a high whine from Harry’s throat, his eyes glossed over with lust and liquor in response.

“Please,” Harry began as his hands twisted into the back of Louis’ shirt, “I want your cock in me so badly. I can feel it and I just… Please. I’ll be so good.”

Now it was Louis’ turn to moan, pressing his forehead to Harry’s. He let go of Harry’s waist, trailing it to Harry’s hip and sighing as Harry pushed his hips into the touch. “Of course, baby, of course. I’ll even-” He was cut off by the sound of a car approaching them, its wheels slowing to a step right in front of them.

Before he could even get in another word, Harry was dragging him to the door and opening it himself. “‘s this for Louis?” He was slurring, but this was more out of the rush he was in to get Louis to his flat than anything else.

Alberto played it cool - bless his soul - and nodded. “I thought it was a Lewis, but yeah, yeah. Where’s the address again?” Shit. Harry would know something was off now. Unless…

Harry glanced at Louis. “You figured out my neighborhood because of that club I told you about, didn’t you?” Oh. Right. That worked. He was just drunk enough himself that he didn’t remember that conversation, but it worked. Louis just nodded while Harry climbed in and recited his address, ass up in the air but with his back more purposefully arched this time. Louis was going to die and he couldn’t care less.

He crawled in behind Harry while Harry buckled in. “Gotta be careful. Can’t pull if we don’t buckle up!” He sing songed in a whisper, winking at Louis. Louis snorted in return, buckling up to appease Harry and because he knew that not buckling up was serious; his mum had done a whole PIF about the situation and it had sent statistics on injuries due to failing to wear a seatbelt into plummet. (She was quite modest about the whole thing, bless her heart.)

As Alberto began to drive, Harry seemed to decide it was an appropriate time to test the limits Louis did not have. It started out simple enough; his hand was clearly reaching for Louis’ knee. He wasn’t going to deny Harry that one bit. Soon, his hand slid up the black jeans Louis was wearing, squeezing at his thigh about halfway up.

Louis turned his head to face him, his breath catching at how close Harry’s face was to his. “What do you think you’re doing?” Louis arched an eyebrow, a smirk on his face before he caught Harry’s lips in a sweet and biting kiss. He pulled back slowly, kissing sweetly up to Harry’s ear. “I’m not gonna let you feel me up in front of a stranger just yet. That’s more of a 12-hour acquaintance thing,” he joked.

Harry laughed at that, maybe a little too loudly for the small space of the car. He clapped a hand over his mouth, still smiling behind it. Louis couldn’t help but smirk, soon biting his lip as Harry’s hand travelled just a few inches further towards his crotch. “I’m drunk, so I don’t even know how long it’s been since you walked into the bar with Niall. Let’s pretend it’s been 24 hours.” Well, Louis could probably do that…

That thought was further cemented as Harry kissed along his jaw, biting at his ear and whining in it. “Are you gonna let me ride you? I’ve been thinking about it ever since I felt you,” Harry confessed, his hand sliding up to Louis’ bulge and giving it a tender squeeze. All Louis could do was moan quietly in response, his hand quickly snaking to Harry’s neck to pull him into a heated kiss. It was much safer this way; Alberto didn’t need to hear them moaning out loud when moaning into each other’s mouths was a much safer option.

It seemed that way, at least, until Harry was rubbing his thumb over where he accurately decided the head of Louis’ cock was. Louis gasped in response, tugging at the strands of Harry’s hair that had fallen out of his bun. It was too late; the domino effect was starting and Harry was whining and exposing his neck to Louis again. Okay, so hair-pulling was _definitely_ a thing he’d be able to use on Harry. Duly noted. Just as Louis was about to pull harder, he heard a soft but distinct noise from the front seat: a throat clearing. That’s right. Alberto.

Louis pulled away from him, sighing softly and moving his hand to Harry’s cheek. “We should wait ‘til we’re alone,” he muttered, winking and pressing a much softer and subdued kiss on Harry. It was nice. This didn’t feel like a hook-up. For whatever reason, this felt more like meeting someone for a third or fourth time for drinks and tumbling into a cab. He almost wished that _were_ the situation. He didn’t want to lie to Harry about who the driver was and calling a cab when he hadn’t. However, that’s what his life had become in order to stay as normal as possible despite his family’s enormous media presence.

“We’re almost there,” Alberto announced. Louis nodded, keeping his hand on Harry’s neck and rubbing his thumb across his jaw. Harry was clearly affected by the hair pulling, which was truly something Louis hadn’t expected. He looked just a bit more drunk and his focus was barely focused on Louis’ mouth as he hummed in acknowledgement.

“I’m so glad you have a picture of Niall being an idiot and blackmailed him into buying the whole pub drinks,” Harry whispered, a dopey smile on his face as he leaned in again for another sweet kiss. It turned into something more quickly, Harry’s tongue swiping over his lip and then over his tongue. God, Louis was beside himself. All he’d wanted when he walked into the pub was a hookup, not certain death via a sinful mouth. He had to be careful what he wished on from now on, it seemed. He was getting a lot more than he bargained for with Harry, but he also didn’t mind. It was just… nice.

Louis pulled away slowly, breathing into Harry’s mouth and tugging softly at a rogue curl. “You and me both,” he mumbled, a soft smile on his lips as Alberto pulled the car to a stop right outside of Harry’s building. It was somewhat light building, not quite new but also no more than 20 years old, and Louis was surprised to see so many lit windows. He wasn’t about to bring that up as Harry _climbed_ _over him_ just to get out of the door. He paused briefly on Louis’ lap to wetly smack a kiss there before he opened the door.

“You coming?” Harry smirked at the joke, nodding his head out the door as he set his feet on the concrete and slowly stood up all the way. Louis could not _believe_ Harry was being so obvious. He honestly had never been more grateful for Niall’s stupidity and alcohol than he was now, simply because it led to Harry’s ass being so close to his face.

He decided to nod his agreement, quickly glancing over to Alberto. “Uh, thanks for the ride. I’ll leave a good rating!” He faked a smile briefly then quickly got out of the car, shutting the door behind himself as Harry impatiently pulled at his hand.

Harry was smirking, walking backwards on his own and taking his keys off of his belt loop. Well… kind of. He was _trying._ He giggled to himself as they walked up the few steps, nearly tripping on a step. He giggled as Louis’ hands came to his waist, while Louis was mildly terrified Harry had almost just _died._ “Sorry. Clumsy,” he excused himself, shrugging and coming to a stop at the door. He finally successfully took unhooked them from his belt loop once he was at a standstill (thank God, because Louis was worried) and unlocked the door. Louis followed after him to a small lift, his eyes widening at the look of it.

“Is this one of those…” He trailed off, not sure where to go with the rest of the sentence.

Harry smirked, “One of those creepy lifts…” He paused, opening the door and revealing the scissor gate behind it, “like the one in Lizzie McGuire? Yes, yes it is.” He opened the gate and stepped in.

Louis followed behind him, feeling a lot like he was trapped in a miniature room from a church. The wood was ornately carved and the windows were stained with light blues and greens, seemingly out of place for London. “But this building looks new?”

“It is. Owner has a thing for older buildings, but wanted it to be affordable for renters or summat,” Harry shrugged, a smirk on his face and his hand curling into Louis’ shirt once he’d pressed the button for his floor. “Are we really talking about doors when you’re about to put your cock up my arse?” He was whispering it in Louis’ ear, clearly trying to get a rise out of him (pun intended), and it was certainly working.

Louis pulled him in closer, his hands on his soft hips. “We shouldn’t start kissing now. What’ll we do when the elevator gets to the floor? Stop?” He shook his head. “Once I start kissing you again, I’m not going to stop until you’re moaning, Harold.”

“Harold?” The brunet rose his eyebrows, shaking his head. “My name’s not-”

The lift came to a stop on Harry’s floor — the third one, Louis noticed — and Louis took the opportunity to slide the gate himself before opening the door into the hallway. “Come, now, Harold. We’ve got no time to waste! Might take us an hour to get you out of those jeans,” he teased, sending Harry a wink as the other followed him and made sure the gate and door were closed properly.

Harry was smirking as he grabbed his hand, leading Louis to the last door on the right. “I think I can speed things up a bit. I’m capable of undressing myself,” he said, before he lost his grip on his keys and dropped them on the floor.

They both burst into laughter, Harry quickly closing his mouth and clapping a hand over Louis’ mouth. “Shh! My-” he giggled once more, “My neighbor is an old lady who thinks I’m an angel. I don’t want to wreck that for her.” He leaned down, nearly hitting his head on his own door, to get his keys and quickly sorted through them to get to the right key for his door.

“She honestly thinks you’re innocent? You have a mermaid pussy on your arm, Harry. I think the illusion of innocence is ruined once you tattoo a vag-” There was the noise of footsteps from across the hall and some creaking.

Harry’s eyes widened instantly. “Get in here!” He whisper yelled, grabbing onto Louis’ shirt and pulling him into the dark flat. He shut the door as well while Louis looked around.

It was too dark to make out much besides the hallway they were in, a wide opening in front of the door that lead to the open layout kitchen and living room. His quick visual tour ended quickly, Harry putting it to a stop as he pulled Louis to the right and to the last bedroom in the hallway. It was a bit small, Louis noticed, but it was hard to take in much besides where the bed was before his cock told him there were more important things to focus on.

Without a second thought, Louis was getting closer to the other, pressing into him as he leaned in to kiss him roughly. Harry wasn’t messing about this time, all tongue and just enough teeth that Louis was moaning instead of being turned off.

Harry was getting closer, his hands sliding up Louis’ shirt to touch his bare back. It should have been uncomfortably warm to have his hands, wrists, forearms all touching him. Instead, he was so warm that it only made Louis want him more. He sucked Harry’s tongue into his mouth, his own hands working on Harry’s fly.

Both actions earned him a moan in return, Harry pulling back with his pupils blown. “I hope you only own maroon shirts,” he muttered, gripping Louis’ hips to push him towards the bed. Louis easily followed his guidance, laying back on the bed once the back of his leg touched the bed.

Louis smirked, properly adjusting his body so his head rested on the pillows. “I’m afraid I own some other colors, Harold.”

Harry scoffed, rummaging through his bedside table for lube and a condom. “Disgraceful. You shouldn’t be allowed to wear anything but shades of red.” He smirked at Louis, both of them giggling as they made eye contact. Harry turned his head back to his hands. “Aha! Got it!”

“Good. Now get your little arse over here,” he mumbled, grabbing onto Harry’s hand and taking the lube and condom out of it. Harry rightfully took that as the invitation that it was, straddling Louis easily while Louis set their necessities off to the side. He took advantage of Louis’ distracted hands and began to unzip and unbutton Louis’ jeans.

Louis smirked, bringing both hands up to his hips once he was sure the lube and condom weren’t going to roll closer to them. “Taking charge of the situation, are we?” He earned a nod in response as Harry rocked his hips just the slightest bit. It was just enough friction to make Louis close his eyes and sink his fingers harder into the soft material of Harry’s shirt. “Fuck, Harry.”

He didn’t need to see Harry’s face as he rocked just a bit harder, “That’s the plan, isn’t it?”

Louis opened up one eye to level him with a playful glare before he was reaching up to unbutton Harry’s shirt, sliding his spare three fingers over Harry’s bare chest as his other two unbuttoned all the buttons. “Well, I am guessing from your position that you want my dick up that little bum of yours, so yes. Yes, it is.” Louis slid the hand that was on his hip down and back, squeezing at the swell of his bum. That just earned him another buck of Harry’s hips and a deliciously sweet whine as Harry slipped out of his shirt, his own hands tugging Louis’ shirt up his chest.

“Off. Now. The faster it’s off, the faster you can keep touching me,” Harry was insisting, rocking his hips as if Louis needed to be enticed to move faster. He was already reaching down to pull his shirt off before Harry was done speaking. He tossed it off the side of the bed, reaching and sitting up to pull Harry closer.

Harry moaned again, meeting him halfway and squeezing at Louis’ hips while Louis’ own hands were back on his ass and roaming over his chest. He rubbed the pad of his thumb over Harry’s left nipple, his other hand giving an equally soft squeeze to his opposite bum cheek. “Is this what you had in mind, babe?” He was being a little tease and he knew it, but Harry was no better. It seemed all Harry could do was sigh against his lips before kissing him rough and slow.

Slow was good. Louis sometimes preferred slow, but he also knew he had obligations. He had coursework to do and if he didn’t get at least some done the next day, he’d muck up his whole schedule due to the amount of family matters he had to attend to as well. He needed to go faster, if only to please his ever-growing cock. He bucked his hips up, rubbing over Harry’s nipple as his tongue swiped messily into Harry’s mouth. It seemed Harry took that as invitation to move things along, pressing a hand on Louis’ chest to force him back down on the bed.

Before Louis could say a word, Harry was taking things into his own hands. _Literally._ He kept his hand where it had been, reaching behind himself to pull off one boot (and its sock companion), dropping it off the side of the bed gently. “Can’t fuck with our shoes on,” he smiled, oddly sweet for the occasion, before doing the same with his right boot (and, again, another black sock).

“We _could,_ but it’d sure make getting our jeans off harder,” he began, sitting up to attempt to help Harry with his own shoes.

Harry shook his head, pressing on Louis’ chest again and leaning back to grab for Louis’ left foot. “Stay. Lemme do it,” he insisted, carefully pulling the trainer off and dropping it a little less carefully off the bed than he had his own Chelsea boots. Louis could excuse it; he knew his Vans were the least of Harry’s concerns. Harry took his hand off of Louis’ chest, leaning back on his left hand in order to pry off Louis’ right shoe with his according hand. “Socks, too?” He asked, smirking.

This time it was Louis’ turn to shake his head. “You’d better not be asking me that so you can make some _horrific_ joke about making my toes curl,” Louis threatened, his fingers delicately walking up to Harry’s nipples to pinch both of them in a teasing manner.

He was squirming to get away, giggling as he pulled off both of Louis’ socks and threw them down by their shoes as well. “Stop it! Your socks are off and now we can get to business!”

Louis smirked at that, more than happy to get on with this. He wasn’t even worried about leaving Harry’s soon enough to get on with responsibilities the next day; he was just excited about seeing Harry with no clothes on. He pulled the man closer by the sides of his neck, sucking Harry’s tongue into his mouth as Harry worked on his own jeans and began to slide out of them.

It was honestly too difficult to keep kissing Harry when he was wiggling around on top of him like a fish out of water. He pulled away, laughing into Harry’s mouth and laughing even harder when Harry flopped his head onto his chest and joined him. “Why don’t you get off of me to take those off?”

Harry sat up on his lap, getting up on his knees and his hands. “You didn’t like me wiggling all over you?” He was pouting, but it was clear he was trying not to laugh as he sat next to Louis’ legs to properly slide them off of his legs and throw them with their other clothes.

“I don’t mind,” Louis began, “but I do mind you making a mess that doesn’t involve your cum all over me.”

He wasn’t expecting his words to have such an effect on Harry, but they were. “I can fix that,” he mumbled, his curls falling in front of his shoulders as he leaned over and pulled Louis’ jeans off. Louis helped how he could, raising his hips and legs accordingly as they, too, were added to the pile of clothing on the hardwood.

Now that they were both in just their pants, Louis was sure this is where the teasing and joking would stop. Well, for the _most_ part. He didn’t think he could be anywhere near this beautiful, lanky goober without teasing him in the most adoring of ways.

Harry moved forward of his own accord, settling down with his arse perfectly aligned over Louis’ cock and a sinful little moan slipping from his lips as he rocked his hips down perfectly. “Can’t wait to get you inside me,” he whispered, leaning forward and kissing Louis roughly.

All Louis could do was moan at both the words and the kiss, rocking his hips up roughly to match Harry’s quick pace. Harry’s hands were moving all over him, running up and down his chest before one was twining into his hair and tugging lightly. That was… Well, Louis wasn’t going to deny that he’d never had anyone pull on his hair and he suddenly had no idea _why_ because that had been phenomenal.

Louis pulled back just enough to see what he was doing, not even stopping as Harry whined in protest. “Louis, what-” Before he could finish, Louis was running his fingers over his dick through his pants, licking his lips in concentration as his thumb skimmed over the head. Those whines of protests turned into whines of need as Louis kept his movement up to speed with Harry’s ass rolling down onto his own cock. “So good, so good. Can,” he paused, swallowing hard and leaning forward to rest his hands on Louis’ hips. All he seemed to care about was the angle, Louis’ cock now lining up well with his hole through both of their pants. “Can you please finger me? I wanna- Wanna do it just like this, rock on ‘em.” He wasn’t begging, but the way his hooded eyes met Louis’ said differently.

“Of course, ‘f course,” Louis nodded, more than happy to give Harry whatever he wanted. He moved his hands to the top of Harry’s boxers, running his thumbs over the hem teasingly.

Harry bucked his hips forward, _“Now.”_ He grabbed onto Louis’ hands, not being too careful (or gentle) in making sure Louis had all eight of his fingers in the hem of his pants before he straightened out his legs. Louis pulled the thin fabric off his legs, tossing them at Harry’s face with a soft laugh. “Hey!” Harry discarded those to the floor before grabbing the lube and putting it in his hand. “You’ve got more important things to do than throw my own pants in my face.”

Louis smirked, “I suppose I do. Get up on your knees again, love.” He uncapped the bottle of lube as Harry got situated, on his knees with his hands on Louis’ shoulder and chest for balance. “‘s a bit cold.” He poured some generously between his fingers to make sure they were wet enough, rubbing them together to make sure they weren’t too cold. He reached his hand behind Harry, using his other hand to spread Harry’s cheeks apart. “Ready?”

The other man nodded, curls bobbing and his cheeks pink with arousal. Louis didn’t waste anytime, if only to see Harry’s whole body turn that pink from exertion. He gently pressed his index finger to Harry’s hole, rubbing over the tight ring of muscles. “Fuck,” Harry moaned, eyes sliding closed at even the idea of someone getting inside of him. It had been way too long since he’d even entertained the idea of someone else doing this to him.

“I got you, shh,” soothed Louis. His voice was soft and sweet, as was his finger as he gingerly pressed against the rim a little bit harder. It was just enough attention to make Harry sigh and dig his fingernails into Louis’ skin out of pleasure. He’d been craving this for weeks, but Louis’ patience made it even better than he’d been expecting it to be.

Harry couldn’t take it anymore, “Please, Louis, _please._ Finger, please.” He didn’t want to wait. He’d fingered himself enough recently to know he was going to be fine with how much lube Louis had on his fingers.

Louis nodded, kissing Harry’s red lips and nipping at his bottom lip while he slowly slid his finger in past the first knuckle. He gently moved it against Harry’s walls, holding back a moan of his own at the feeling while Harry’s eyes visibly fluttered at the touch. “You want more?” He was met with a small nod, which he easily gave into. “Okay, shh,” he whispered, kissing at Harry’s jawline while his finger pressed all the way in, slow but insistent inside of him. “Do you want me to just loosen you up or do you want me to find your spot, baby?”

His voice was so soft, so gentle, that Harry had no choice but to moan loudly at the idea of being asked what he wanted. It wasn’t that no one had asked, but most men just assumed he didn’t want to be played with a little. There was no fun in this unless his partner got him actually _excited_ about their dick being up his arse.

He was moaning out before he even realized it, voice cracking: “Fuck me with your fingers, please. Oh, God, _please.”_ Harry opened his eyes, not even realizing they were closed, to meet Louis’ stormy gray ones. The look Louis leveled him only confirmed he was going to get his way.

Louis’ single finger was incessant after that, firmly yet slowly thrusting all the way in and nearly all the way out. It only led to Harry pulling his hair once more, his cries turning higher pitched the longer Louis spent rubbing inside him to try to find _the_ spot he knew would make Harry get wilder. He crooked his finger just the tiniest bit, thrilled when Harry rocked down hard and gasped in pleasure. _Found it._

“Lou, Lou, please,” he begged again, rocking down on Louis’ finger and working up quite a sweat. He reached below himself with one hand, the other pressing onto Louis’ chest as he pulled at Louis’ pants. “I-I need you, please. I’m ready.” He was sure that anything more would get him too close to the edge.

Louis met his eyes, “You sure?” He was met with a hesitant nod of Harry’s head. “I think maybe I should get you up to another finger. Might hurt otherwise, okay? Is that okay with you?” It was important that Harry was 100% comfortable with what he was offering; personally, he wasn’t too comfortable with only opening Harry up with one finger. He knew he wasn’t gigantic by any means, but he also knew he may hurt Harry if he weren’t prepped enough.

Harry bit at his lip, “Okay. Just… Go fast? I don’t wanna come.” That would be humiliating, considering how he’d asked for Louis to find his prostate and now he couldn’t even handle it being touched. However, Louis just nodded to let him know that was okay. God, why couldn’t he find someone who wasn’t a one night stand who would treat him this well?

“I’ll just touch you enough to open you up, I promise,” Louis guaranteed, surging up to kiss Harry’s pillowy lips before he was adding another finger, gently massaging over Harry’s hole. Harry was moaning in seconds, rolling his hips down into Louis’ hand before placing his hand on Louis’ chest again; trying to get Louis’ pants off could wait for now.

There was a slight hum against his lips before Louis’ other finger was pressing into his tight heat, eagerly massaging at his walls before scissoring gently. At that point, all Harry could do was moan into Louis’ mouth while his hips rocked haphazardly onto his hand. He just wanted Louis to open him up as deeply as he could without touching his prostate. He didn’t think he could handle that right now. It seemed as though Louis agreed. He pulled his fingers out a few seconds later. “I think you’re good now, what do you think?” He was being considerate again. Harry’s dick throbbed at the question. Who knew someone being _compassionate_ could make him wanna come all over them?

“Yes, please. Please.” Harry knew he was begging, but Louis didn’t seem to mind. He lifted his hips up just enough under Harry to slide his pants down his thighs. Harry didn’t even wait for any instructions. He was turning around halfway to pull the horrible, _insulting_ fabric off of Louis. He was outraged by anything that came between them, even if those pants made Louis’ dick look delicious.

Louis reached out for the condom, ripping the packet open and discarding the wrapper in the waste basket he saw on the side of Harry’s bed when he came in. “Do you want to-” Harry nodded eagerly, biting into his lip hard at the idea of sliding it on. “Have at it, then.” He handed it to Harry, who eagerly crawled backwards until Louis’ dick was in front of him.

He seemed to be figuring out the best way to go about things, bringing the lube closer before he was sliding the condom onto Louis gently, holding onto the base as he went. “Thank God you let me do that. I’ve wanted to touch your dick all night,” he muttered, leaning down and pressing gentle kisses over the prominent vein on the underside of it. Louis moaned eagerly, his hips rocking up gently. Harry stopped him, pressing down on his hip with his free hand while the other squeezed at the base yet again. “I like seeing you all desperate. ‘s cute.” He was smirking — the bastard — as he uncapped the lube and drizzled some over Louis’ dick.

All Louis could do was moan, feeling the cold gel through the condom as Harry used the hand that had previously held his hip down to spread the lube over his length. Harry was planning his death — and it seemed like Harry’s arse was going to be the cause.

Harry smirked up at him. “Are y’ready?” He was mumbling, his eyes glazed over with lust and alcohol as he rose up on his knees and scooted forward. He had finally let go of Louis’ base, only to fist his cock once more and line the tip up with his ass. Louis nodded hard, moaning in approval and grabbing onto Harry’s hips. He’d help however he could. “Good. Gonna go real slow.”

It was hard to even be a little bit annoyed by how smug he was when he was _finally, finally_ sinking down just enough to feel the head of Louis’ dick stretching him out. “Fuck, Louis,” he whimpered, clenching his eyes shut and sinking down just the tiniest bit more.

The thing was, Louis remembered it all. He remembered lubing his fingers up and fingering Harry, but it felt like he hadn’t done that at all. Was it smooth? Yes. Was it still incredibly tight? _God, yes._ Louis could hardly breathe with all the attention on his cock. Thankfully, Harry let go as he sunk just a bit further down. He was only halfway down and both of them were already panting and whimpering. This was _perfect._ Louis couldn’t remember the last time sex had felt this good.

“Harry, can you-” He swallowed, “Can you go all the way, baby?” He was rubbing at Harry’s hips with his thumbs, working on pushing his own hips down into the mattress to refrain from fucking up into Harry.

Harry nodded, rocking his hips down some as he sunk down. He was being methodical, going just slow enough that it was like trying to fit your hand into a tight pocket or pushing a Jenga block out of the tower. It was excruciatingly beautiful to see, but even more fulfilling to witness. He finally decided to stop wasting time, sinking down a little faster and gasping at the _fullness_ there. It had been too long, but especially since anyone had made him feel so full. _“Louis,”_ he cried, his voice cracking and going high and needy.

His hips were still for just a few moments. It was killing them both. Louis rubbed at his hips a bit more, reaching a hand back to squeeze at Harry’s ass and pull his cheeks apart just a tad. It earned another whine from Harry, which only made Louis moan in return. Harry just made the prettiest noises. He was so _vocal_ and Louis wanted to remember those noises for as long as possible. “C’mon, baby, can you move for me? I wanna see you work for it. Use me.” His voice grew deeper as he spoke. Every syllable rank of sex, his eyes matching with just millimeters of blue shining in the dark.

Harry knew, more than anything, that he wanted to do just that. He leaned over Louis more, moving his hands to Louis’ shoulders and sighing at the new angle. He could really see Louis’ face and he was almost sure Louis’ cock was going to hit him in all the right places. “Whatever you want,” he purred, curls tumbling into his face as he began a slow rhythm.

He rose off Louis’ length, sighing as Louis slid so beautifully against his walls. Feeling the drag of him just once was enough to spur him on more. “Gonna make you come, too, Lou.” He was sure of it. His hips matched his confident attitude, sinking down onto Louis and rolling his hips. It was enough to get Louis’ eyes to roll and his fingertips to dig into the flesh on Harry’s hips.

“Fuck, yes,” Louis moaned as Harry rocked back up. Louis met his hips this time, thrusting up as Harry sank down.

It seemed that was _just_ what Harry wanted. He was gasping at the sudden thrust, grinding his ass down on Louis and moaning as he felt Louis just where he wanted and needed him most.

After that, it was a matter of give and take.

Harry was fucking down on Louis’ cock like his life depended on it while Louis’ hips rolled into each drag of Harry’s hips. The pressure around Louis was perfect, more than enough to make him whine and roll his hips into Harry’s ass. For Harry, nothing was more perfect than Louis’ head dragging against his walls, pressing into his prostate.

It was all too much, but never enough at the same time. Harry was pushing himself, embarrassingly so. He had days where he didn’t sweat or try this hard at the gym. “Louis,” he gasped out the other’s name, digging his nails into Louis’ skin as he started to gain momentum and actually _bounce_ on Louis’ cock.

Louis was on board with that, pressing his feet into the mattress and gripping his hips harder. He was going to make Harry crumble. “Keep going, Harry. Gonna help you.” He rocked his hips upwards, experimenting with the force of his hips. It was just enough to make Harry mewl, hanging his head down and shiver. That was… good; Louis knew he could get more out of him, though.

“Wrap your arms around my neck,” he instructed. Harry was quick to comply, laying over Louis and whining at the change in angle. “Shh. It’s okay.” With that, Louis took full control. He rocked into Harry hard, using both his legs and hips to thrust as roughly as he knew Harry needed.

He was met with whines and tugs to his hair as the bed creaked under them from his ministrations. “So fucking big, fuck,” was slurred into his neck before Harry was licking and sucking a mark into his collarbone. Thank _God_ he wouldn’t have his collarbones out for his latest public events or he’d have to explain that to _everyone._ Despite the family being royal and all, they were still incredibly tight knit, including with their staff, and if anyone saw that, the rest of his family’s inner circle would know. (Then they’d ask questions…)

Louis kept his pace going, thrusting into Harry and licking his way into Harry’s mouth, their tongues meeting somewhere in the middle in a low moan. He knew they both wouldn’t last too much longer, but that was fine. This was incredible. He felt comfortable with Harry, despite how awkward it could be to meet someone and fool around right away. There was none of that here. Of course, that might have had something to do with the alcohol; Louis wasn’t sure.

The sounds coming from Harry were enough to leave his head spinning. He was gasping and rocking down into Louis’ thrusts, lazy but intent on coming. “Still,” he paused, pressing a few kisses to Louis’ jaw, “want you to come first, Lou. B-But I’m _so_ close.” The kisses to his jaw were followed by his teeth nipping at his ear, then behind it, then across his jawline. Fuck, Harry was good.

“Come first, come first. I wanna see you fall apart. C’mon, baby,” Louis spurred him on, giving Harry’s arse cheek a firm pat. Well, it was more of a spank…

Neither of them seemed to expect Harry to cry out at that, “Agh! _Louis!_ Again, _please!_ ” He emphasized his need by sitting up just a little bit more to grind his hips in little circles. Louis blinked up at him, groaning and snapping his hips up twice as hard when he noticed tears in the corners of Harry’s eyes. He _really_ liked that. Like, way more than Louis was expecting, especially since Louis had just sort of done it on a whim.

Since Louis was clearly smitten _and_ eager to see Harry get so worked up again, he rubbed his palm over Harry’s bum cheek gently. He wanted to make sure the first one was okay before he took the chance and slapped his other cheek while thrusting up particularly hard into Harry’s prostate. This time, Harry gasped and panted. “I’m-I’m-” He didn’t get out much more than that before he was coming between their chests, leading Louis to moan out and run his thumb through the white mess on his chest.

Before he could suck it off his own thumb, Harry was beating him to the punch. He leaned in before Louis got a chance, sucking Louis’ thumb into his mouth and swirling his tongue over it. That was all Louis needed to be pushed over the edge, gasping against Harry’s cheek as he rocked his hips up into Harry and came in the condom.

“That was… So good.” Louis could barely say more than that, rubbing over Harry’s bum to soothe the area from the smacks. “I’m sorry I didn’t ask if I could do that. I should have-”

Harry pulled softly at his hair and licked into Louis’ mouth. All Louis could taste was _HarryHarryHarry._ It was better than he’d expected, which only made the kiss that much better. He almost wished they hadn’t met this way. He didn’t know how to tell Harry who he was without feeling like a prick now. He especially didn’t know how to feel knowing that he’d probably never felt that connected to someone before — as a friend or as a lover. Being with Harry was just _easy._

Louis was the first to break up the kiss, slowly rolling them so Harry was on his back. “Need to get the condom off,” he whispered. He pressed another kiss to Harry’s cheek, smiling softly at the blissful whine he got in return. The noise he got when he pulled out was much different, a whine of loss, as he slid the condom off and tied it before carefully depositing it in Harry’s bin.

“Your dick and hands,” Harry whimpered, moving his arms around him to pull the sheets down so they could both slide under them, “So good. When d’you have to leave?”

He couldn’t help but sigh, “Around eight. Should get up around seven.” He looked up at the clock on Harry’s bedside table. Thankfully, it was about one a.m., which was more than enough time for him to get some sleep and wake up feeling refreshed.

Harry pulled his legs up to his chest, pulling the sheet out from where his legs had been to pull the sheets over both of them as Louis moved accordingly. He pressed his warm toes into Louis’ leg, curling up with his head under Louis’ chin. “Wake me up. I’ll make you toast and eggs. Okay?” Louis couldn’t deny that that sounded perfect. He nodded his head and pressed a kiss to Harry’s forehead.

“Okay. G’night, Harry.”

“Mmm. Night.”

**xxxxxxxxxx**

It was far, far too long of a day at the library the next day. Harry didn’t know the last time he’d had so many young students asking him about each and every book in the dinosaur section. It was fine, though. The school trip ended with many hugs from little kids (“Thank you, Mr. Harry! Your spotty top is pretty!” and “I wanna be a liberry-yun when I grow up!” all followed those hugs) and an hour of lunch time for Harry.

The years he’d spent in France doing preparation to become a librarian had been just as thrilling, if not more because he had to speak and write in French. This was exciting on another level, though. There was a comfort in speaking English all the time, but there was the added bonus of knowing this was his home country. The only (well, besides the fact that his dreams of being an artist weren’t going to come true unless he quit scribbling in his notebook and started scribbling on a canvas) downside was that he’d spent half his life in England and half his life in France due to his dad’s transfer, so he felt somewhat unconnected to life back home. That was the plus of working in a library, though; all he saw all day were people from all walks of life, with so many interests. He might have been a children’s program coordinator, but that didn’t stop adults from asking him for advice all the time.

The last thing he expected was to see his co-worker, Jade, knocking on his office door while he swirled honey into his yoghurt with his spoon. “Hey, Hazza. We got that new issue of _The Sun_ you wanted to see.” She smirked, wiggling the magazine in front of her with both hands as she took a step into his open office.

He rolled his eyes, “Jade, it doesn’t take someone living outside England for 11 years to know that magazine is shit. Get rid of it. Bin it. I keep telling Linda we don’t need it.”

Jade scoffed, “But H! You haven’t paid any attention to gossip rags since you’ve been working here. Do you even know anything about Britain anymore?!” She tossed it on the edge of his desk, on top of a stack of coloring books based on children’s books.

Harry took a spoonful of yoghurt into his mouth, thinking as he swallowed. “Well, we still have a queen, I take it. And gay marriage is finally legal. Oh! Simon Cowell has finally admitted he has pec implants?!” He gasped, clapping his hands in fake excitement with his spoon awkwardly grasped between three fingers. His joke earned him another scoff, coupled with a sweet giggle from his coworker.

“Fine. I guess you haven’t missed much, then. Wait! I forgot to tell you!” She picked up the magazine again, flipping around in the pages.

He sighed, “Jade, I do not _care_ who won _Celebrity Big Brother_ last season and who’re they’re-”

“Here!” She folded the pages over and showed him the page.

He couldn’t believe it. On the page she’d handed him was perhaps the most puzzling thing in the world: a picture of Louis, _the Louis_ he’d had sex with three nights ago, leaving a large duplex in the center of London with bodyguards in tow. The more troubling thing was the accompanying article:

**_Prince Louis to Attend Books for Hope Event for Queen Johannah_ **

_It’s no surprise that Prince Louis is finally taking it upon himself to get involved in charities; the Prince is likely to become the King of England within the next 50 years, after all! Since His Royal Highness was young, his mother vowed that he would publicly appear once he felt comfortable with his position as the future king._

_A source close to The Sun tells us HRH is working hard to learn about what it takes to run a country. After taking a summer humanitarian trip after attaining his GCSE then a four gap years after his Honours Degree, he is now studying International Relations and Politics. His four years abroad were spent doing humanitarian work in Ghana, Madagascar, Bolivia, and Thailand. The source confides “he’s really working hard to earn this degree; he wants to prove to the United Kingdom that he is capable of running this country and living up to his mother’s high legacy. This summer hols is his opportunity to really show the country what he’s capable of.”_

_At only 25, Prince Louis is more than prepared to take the throne. With his degrees, he’s already completed more education than his younger siblings and is trying to be an example. His gap years were spent with focuses on charity work as well as a bit of “lad time” with his best friend since childhood, Niall Horan._

_By the time he turns 27, HRH is set to marry Perrie Edwards, the daughter to Alexander Edwards. Due to her father’s role as First Sea Lord, as well as being a member of the Defence Council of the United Kingdom, Edwards has known HRH since they were children. Our source adds about Edwards: “They’re as close as can be. She’s been seen at dinners with his family and they’re often seen at Cambridge together between both of their heavy course loads.”_

_Charity work is so important to the couple that “she’s persuaded him to start a charity in his late grandfather’s name to honor his work before his untimely death. His mother couldn’t be more thrilled.”_

Harry stared up at Jade, his spoon clattering to the floor with the magazine that had been in his hands. He’d slept with the fucking heir to the British throne. He’d been _spanked_ by the heir to the British throne.

“Harry? H? Are you okay?” Jade was kneeling in front of him, hands on his knees. “I know he’s gotten cute since the Queen last let him in the public eye, but you’re– You look like you’ve seen a bloody ghost.”

He shook his head. He had to play it cool; if Louis hadn’t told him, there had to be a reason. He was so compassionate and kind. He didn’t play him. Harry just had to repeat that to himself as he quickly leaned down and handed the magazine back to Jade before grabbing his spoon.

“No, just- Guess I forgot how attractive British men are,” he mumbled, standing up and walking out to wash his spoon. He was just going to pretend none of this had ever happened.


	2. two

**_Three Days Earlier_ **

There were cameras snapping from across the street, lightbulbs flashing as Louis linked arms with Perrie. Of course, that only made the paparazzi snap their lenses even faster. Despite the fact that they were so close to a church, it seemed like they thought it was closer to a football game with the way they were yelling for attention from Perrie and Louis.

“Why won’t you tell me more about it, Lou? I won’t tell,” she whispered, bumping into him with her hip.

To anyone from the outside, it probably looked flirty; Louis and Perrie both knew better. They were probably closer to being a bickering old married couple than they were to the loved up spouses-to-be the world thought they were. “Because I don’t think it’s okay to talk about  _ spanking  _ at a bloody  _ church,” _ Louis shook his head at her. “Honestly, Pez…”

She brought them to a stop in front of the church, wrapping him up in a sweet hug. However, her right hand was pulling at his ear where the cameras wouldn’t be able to see and he was attempting to bury his own face in her hair to hide the pained look on his face. “Lewis, tell me  _ now  _ or I’ll release pictures of you and Niall arse naked in the tub from when were were eight!”

Louis grabbed onto both of her wrists, holding them so her hands fell on his shoulders. It looked casual, but from across the street, it wouldn’t be obvious that she was wiggling her wrists to escape his hold. “No, you won’t!” He paused, “We really have got to stop blackmailing each other. I tried something similar with Niall last night.”

Perrie smirked, “Did it work, though?” He sighed.

“Fine. I see what you’re doing. I’ll tell you, but not here,” Louis levelled her with a look of compromise. She nodded her head in approval.

“I suppose that’s fair… But only if I drive.” She finally pulled her hands free and crossed her arms, asking for a challenge.

He sighed, refraining from rolling his eyes and sliding his sunglasses out from his pocket. “Okay,” he began, “but you know I need to tell Alberto or he’ll chop me head off.” He finally snapped the bows open and slid the sunglasses onto his face.

Perrie nodded her head, “Fine. Give me your keys.” She smirked. “We’re gonna have to thank your mum for deciding that I needed to be insured on your cars. It just…” She sighed, clutching her hands close to her chest. “It brings me so much joy.”

Louis narrowed his eyes at her, “Be careful or I’ll see if we can take your policy away.”

She scoffed, wrapping her arm around his as they approached Preston, who was just several feet away. “That won’t do. Can’t save you from a night of fun with dear Niall if I can’t drive your car, can I?”

**xxxxxxxxxx**

Louis pulled out a tub of rocky road ice cream from the freezer, reaching into the nearby drawer for an ice cream scoop. He raised up onto his tiptoes, opening up the cupboard to grab two bowls for himself and Perrie.

“Hey, Lou? Could you make me a cuppa?” Perrie yelled from what sounded like Niall’s room. Typical. Despite the fact that she was meant to be “engaged” to Louis, she had a rather large preference for being in Niall’s room and even  _ changing  _ in his room. If it weren’t for how private his private life  _ actually  _ was, he’d think that the public would know she was much more interested in Niall than himself.

He nodded nonetheless, putting it on his list of things to do as he looked over at the kettle. It was turned on and heating up the water for his own cup. Thankfully, he’d added enough water for a few cups rather than just one. He opened up the ice cream and scooped two (and a cheeky half-scoop for good luck) into his bowl. He was about to move onto the next bowl when he heard Perrie coming down the stairs. “Water’s in the kettle. I can start on our cuppas if you take over scooping?”

Perrie let out a dramatic sigh but obliged, grabbing the scoop from him while hip-checking him.

“Oi!” Louis sent her a faux glare, going across the room for mugs. “I’m the heir to the British throne and you’re  _ bumping  _ into me hip?”

He was met with a snort of laughter as he opened the cupboard. “You should just be lucky I didn’t put all me weight into it, love. You’d be on the floor.”

Well, that wasn’t quite true, but Louis was fond of how confident she was in her unconventional hip-involved athletics. “That’s not true. I’d be through the floorboards, Pez.” He sent her a wink as he set down two mugs and shut the cupboard behind him before fetching the milk from the fridge. He got out the tea and went about making her tea first -- since he was a gentleman and all -- before working on his own. He turned to her as they steeped.

She was smirking and scooping, licking off her thumb as she slid his bowl closer to him. “Yeah, yeah. You’re just distracting me because you know I need to revise tonight and you don’t want to share about last night’s conquest,” she smirked, putting the lid on the ice cream before opening the freezer and placing it back in the draw. She closed it with her bare leg, barely wincing at the cold before closing the door as well before placing the scoop in the sink.

“I’m not…” Louis rolled his shoulders, followed by the same motion with his neck, “I’m not trying to  _ distract  _ you, Pez. I’m trying to  _ procrastinate  _ you bringing it up.” He was met with a low hum and the soft  _ ting  _ of her spoon hitting her bowl.

Louis met her eyes. She was swallowing a mouthful of chocolate and marshmallow. “That’s not proper English, Louis.” She paused. “You wanted to tell him who you were, didn’t you?” Her voice was soft and considerate as she stepped closer. He sighed. He hated that he knew her so well; she could pinpoint when he was at a breaking point before he himself could. It was frustrating.

“Of course I did,” he swallowed, shrugging. “It was… He was so nice. I’m sure Niall mentioned it to you after he came home.” He gave her a pointed look. Right, yes. All he had to do was redirect the attention to how  _ she  _ had spent the night in Niall’s room (not unusual) while he was out (not unusual) and how Louis had to walk in and see them snuggled up like a proper couple two hours before church (very unusual).

Perrie scoffed, scooping another spoonful onto her spoon. “You’re not even procrastinating now. You’re changing the subject and being a pain in the arse so I’ll talk about Niall. That’s not fair and you know it.” She finally ate the mouthful of ice cream on her spoon, licking the spoon clean. Louis raised an eyebrow and gestured vaguely at what she was doing while his other arm crossed over his chest. She gasped, “No! We didn’t do  _ that. I  _ didn’t do that!” She shook her head again before reaching for the tea closest to her and smirking. “Not yet. Also, is this that pig infuser I bought you?”

Louis blanched, shaking his head. “Yes, it is, but please don’t mention blowing Niall in the same breath as talking about tea. Or pigs.” He reached for his tea and made his own face at his own infuser, a sweet little frog that was smiling up at him. It reminded him of Harry. Somehow, that comparison -- even in his own head -- made him smile a bit harder before he took a sip and smirked as the frog bumped his nose.

“Fine,” Perrie sighed, walking to the other side of the room and stepping into the dining area. She pushed the chair with her leg before setting her bowl and mug down. “Sit with me and I’ll talk to you about Niall, I won’t mention blowies, and you can tell me all about this Harry character. However,  _ you  _ can’t skimp on details. I’d like to know more about this spanking kink of yours.” She smirked, raising her mug up to her mouth and taking a hesitant sip.

Louis raised an eyebrow as he brought his own bowl and mug over, finally digging into the rocky road as Perrie gave him a thumb’s up to let him know he  _ was  _ the king of tea. “Fine. Like I said, we just… kinda locked eyes across the pub. He came up to me while Niall was ordering and paying for drinks for everyone. He was really nice.” He had a sweet, dopey smile on his face. The worst part was that he was well aware of that, but he couldn’t  _ fix  _ it. He liked being so smiley.

Harry was just… good. He was honestly all Louis had ever wanted in an actual date. He’d always imagined himself with a gentleman, someone who knew he wanted to use condom and lube, who would flirt with him in a crowd and not worry about being seen with the future king. It was nice. It was refreshing. Perrie was a great friend, a best friend, but not what he wanted. Everyone around him knew it. He was sure even some members of the English media suspected his situation wasn’t all it was made out to be. They were meant to get married, sure, but that didn’t mean it was more than convenience and friendship in a lifelong bond. Admittedly, it wasn’t something either of them found ideal, but Louis and Perrie both knew better. They couldn’t just say they didn’t want to get married. It was an impossible situation; Louis couldn’t out himself -- which would cause mass hysteria all over the world, no doubt -- and Perrie couldn’t come off as the already rich woman who thought she was too good for the throne. If you added onto it Louis’ sexuality and Perrie’s obvious feelings for Niall, well… It all wasn’t good, not one bit.

“So,” Perrie began, just as hesitant with her words as she was with her tea, “You both got hammered and went home together?”

Louis shook his head, “I mean, we were drunk, yeah, but… I think both of us knew it was going to happen as soon as he sat down in the booth with me. He was just… Pretty. He was so pretty. I think he’d be someone I’d like to see again, if I’d had the balls to say who I am.” He finally put his spoonful of ice cream in his mouth, humming around the spoonful as he crunched on a chocolate covered almond. The taste was a lot better than the taste of regret from not being honest about who he was with Harry. It seemed so stupid now to withhold the truth from him. Sadly, there was nothing he could do about it. He’d left very early in the morning after Harry had made breakfast for him and then he was heading back to his flat to get ready for church (and, of course, finding Perrie and Niall playing a game of “We’re Not a Couple, We Promise”).

Perrie took a deep breath, “Look, it was one night. You’ll likely never see him again, right?”

He nodded. She was right. London was quite big. The odds of him running into Harry again were slim to none. “You’re right, Pez. I won’t. Even if I did, I don’t know what I’d do about the situation, you know? Besides, just because the sex was  _ great _ doesn’t mean we’d make a great fit.”

Perrie smirked, “So are we going to talk about the spanking now?”

Louis nearly dropped his cup of tea, reaching for it with his other hand to steady it in his other hand. “Perrie! Jesus,” he widened his eyes, “way to ease into the question.” He took a sip of his tea before setting it down again and taking a scoop of his ice cream into his mouth. “But if we must talk about it, sure. I’ve never… That’s never something I’ve done before.”

She still had that shit-eating smirk on her face (it was too smug to be a grin, Louis was sure). “Really? Well, I guess that means you’re more kinky than we all thought, Mr. Future King of England.” She accented each word of her new title for Harry with a shimmy of her upper body. She was so annoying. Louis honestly didn’t know how the world thought he was about to marry her when he was more likely to give her a wet willy.

“Well,” he began, voice soft as he set his tea down, “I don’t know about that. It just felt- It felt right, yeah? Like… He could trust me enough to let me do it and I just knew that’s what he needed.”

Perrie’s shit-eating smirk was gone and she was sending him an understanding smile from across the table. “Trust is something awfully hard to acquire in a few hours, Lou. That’s very sweet. Just… Like I said, it was one night, right? You likely won’t see him ever again. I’m not saying forget about it.” She shook her head, adamant but soft. “Don’t forget about the experience or how he made you feel. Just… Remember it. Because I think you have some things to sort out before we can get married, if you still want that.”

_ Oh.  _ Wait, what did that mean? “Pez, what do you mean? Are you trying to tell me I should go on some dating rampage while we’re meant to look engaged?” He set his hands on the table, eyebrows furrowing. “That- I can’t do that.”

“Louis, no,” she shook her head and sat on the edge of her seat, “I’m not saying go out and screw every man you meet. I’m saying I think you need to think about yourself. I don’t want you to be married to me some day, as a king or otherwise, and call it all off because you felt I never told you to try. I know neither of us  _ love  _ the idea of getting married, babe.” She reached across the circular table, squeezing his hand, “I just need to know that we both explored every avenue before things get intense with wedding planning and, you know, becoming a Duke and Duchess.” She gave his hand a squeeze.

Louis understood, was the thing. How could he not? He knew this was a necessary task in order to not end up totally resenting Perrie or vice versa. They had to make sure this was right for them at the moment. “Fine. I’ll keep it in mind. I don’t want us to regret getting married. This is important and we’ve both talked about this for years now. However…”

Perrie groaned, letting go of his hand and shaking her head. “No. I just- I was just stating a general idea, I-”

“Nuh, uh, uh,” Louis tutted, shaking his own head. “If I have to do this, you have to make an effort with Niall. I know it’s scary because we’ve all known each other so long, but just… Trust me, okay? Niall is going to be around a long time with James being the press secretary for the family. He’s going to school to do the same thing when  _ we  _ take the throne. That may be a tad awkward if you end up in love with him, but married to me.”

Perrie bit at her lip, gripping onto the edge of the table. “Fine.” She stuck her right hand out. “I think we may have a deal, Future King.”

Louis nodded, taking a deep breath before shaking her hand as well. “I believe we do, Future Queen.”

**xxxxxxxxxx**

**_Two Days Earlier_ **

Louis regretted stepping out the door as soon as he did. He was going to a meeting at Kensington -- dressed in his best purple sweater and black brogues -- but he wasn’t alone. He was surrounded by Preston, Basil (who should have been with Niall, had Niall not stayed with James the night before), and Paul. Paul was the head of security and, frankly, one of his mum’s best workers. He’d been working for them for a little over ten years now and Louis still couldn’t help but be grateful; 15-year-old Louis had been a prat at times, partially from being so sheltered. Louis knew he wouldn’t have been able to handle himself had he been in Paul’s shoes.

“Do we have to go out like this?” He pulled his beanie down further over his soft hair. It was raining at a slow but consistent pace. Typical London, but Louis had still freshly dried his hair and neglected a coat. He was always bloody cold, but he assumed he’d have that problem no matter what country his mother controlled.

Preston slid open the door for him, sighing softly. “Yes, Louis, you do. We do this every time-”

Louis sighed, glancing behind him when he heard the telltale sign of cameras.  _ Of course.  _ He just didn’t understand why he couldn’t get papped on days where his hair looked decent. Thankfully, the beanie at least covered up the top of his head. “I know. Every time. I need three security guards at least when heading to public affairs. It’s just getting old already.” He’d only truly been out in the public eye since he’d turned 18, but those 7 years were a lot to handle. He had been exposed some as a young child, but once his mum added to the family, it was evident that the children needed protection. She wasn’t going to let her oldest be ogled at while she could more carefully protect the ones that needed her most. She’d decided pretty early on it was best to keep Louis out of the spotlight, especially because of the scandal associated with her marrying a commoner. The only good thing about the scandal -- in Louis’ eyes -- was the added bonus of paparazzi and press focusing solely on his mother and Mark rather than himself. Now that he was 25 and exposed to it all firsthand, he got why she’d pulled him and the other kids out of the picture.

The only downfall now was that she had seven children with three different fathers and they were all getting papped nonstop. It was harder for her to rule the country in such politically tense times while also attempting to be a good mother. Luckily, they could afford good security and the paparazzi weren’t too intense unless it was a rather large, upscale event or the whole family was being photographed at once. Louis just wished they wouldn’t care so much. None of them -- including his own mum -- had asked for this kind of treatment. The worst part of all, at least for himself and his mum, was the added pressure his siblings didn’t have: his soul purpose was to become the ruler of the United Kingdom and there wasn’t a damn thing either of them could have done to change that.

No amount of hiding could save you from your destiny.

**xxxxxxxxxx**

**_Present Day_ **

“Mate, I’d like to know what your problem is.”

Harry sighed. Liam was being particularly annoying. It wasn’t that Harry couldn’t handle it, but he was working on a sketch in one of his notebooks. “I don’t have a problem, Liam. It sounds a lot like you have one though.” He looked up, meeting Liam’s eyes. “You’re being particularly obnoxious about thinking  _ I  _ have a problem.  _ I  _ don’t have any problems. Life’s peachy.”

Liam grabbed his legs, settling under them on the sofa and leaning his head back. “You know,” he rolled his head to the side on the top of the sofa to meet Harry’s eyes, “I love you and all, but you are one of the most dramatic people I know. If you didn’t have a problem, you would’ve just left it at that.” He tapped at Harry’s ankle. Stupid Liam. Unfortunately, he was right. They hadn’t known each other long at all, but he had a knack for making sure Harry was honest and open about his feelings, despite the fact that Liam himself could be a bit hush-hush about his own business. He was just glad Gemma’s friend from university had a boyfriend with no roommate in London. It was hard not to believe fate or something similar was at work when things like that happened.

“Fine. You’re right.” He huffed, closing his notebook and capping his biro before setting them on his lap. “You know how I slept with that guy the other day?”

It seemed as though Liam suddenly wanted nothing to do with the topic or the idea of Harry sharing with him. “Look, mate,” he shook his head and held his hands up in surrender, “I am not interested in hearing about any of your sexy times with guys or-”

Harry rolled his eyes. “Liam, I’m just… It was a great time, but I really regret how things went down. I think he lied about some things is all. I know I won’t see him again, but it’s just irritating me. He was really nice and we talked beforehand and that was good, too. He even liked my cooking…” He trailed off, staring down at his notebook. It was all beaten up and it matched how stupid he felt for not realizing who Louis was sooner. If it weren’t for Jade, he’d still think he just slept with some random guy with the same name as the Prince. (He couldn’t believe he’d been so out of touch with life back in England until recently; it was truly a disgrace to his own pride in being British and how pretty he always thought the Queen was.)

“Oh,” Liam relaxed back into the couch again and rested his hands over Harry’s ankles. “Well, just think about it next time you meet someone, yeah? He was a fool to lie to you. You don’t deserve to be lied to, but there will be other guys. And H? I wouldn’t take the cooking thing too seriously. You’d have to have no taste buds in order to hate your food. Everyone loves it.” He rubbed Harry’s shin, watching patiently as Harry nodded and seemingly absorbed what Liam was saying.

He was clearly trying to take what Liam was saying to heart. It was just hard when he’d thought they’d gotten along so well. Wait. They  _ had  _ gotten along really well. Maybe Harry was just overthinking it. It was just one night, after all, and Louis probably didn’t want anyone to know who he was or anything. Yeah, that made sense. Harry was just being irrational. There  _ were  _ other fish in the sea, like Liam was saying, and he’d be fine. “Thanks, Liam,” he sighed, relieved that he was getting in over his head and it seemed like Liam agreed based on how he diverted Harry’s attention to the future rather than the past. Liam was a good lad; Harry had struck roommate gold in him. “Why don’t you go meet up with Soph early? I’m sure she’ll wanna see you. I can eat on my own tonight, maybe watch a movie.”

Based purely on the way Liam met Harry’s eyes and smiled warmly, Harry was sure Liam also felt like he was the golden nugget of roommates. “You know, I’m glad she and Gemma are friends. You’re way better than that stuck-up old mate of mine I was gonna let move in here.”

Harry chuckled, “Well, gee, thanks. I’ll keep that in mind.” As Liam gave up, Harry gave him a small slap to the bum. “Get outta here! Oh! Could you bring me back a-”

“Piece of carrot cake with extra icing? Of course. I’ll get you an extra large slice,” Liam winked, sliding his leather jacket on as he leaned down to put on his boots.

“You,” the younger man fake sniffled, “are truly the best. Tell Sophia she should come ‘round at the weekend for some waffles and lasagna.” He picked up his biro and notebook again, opening up to his previous sketch.

“She’d be delighted!” He reached for his keys off the nearby table, opening up the door. “I’ll see you in the morning.” The door closed quietly behind him, followed by it briefly clicking open again. “Hey! I forgot,” Liam began, earning Harry’s eyes back on him again, “good luck with that event tomorrow at the library. I saw online that Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis might be there!”

Harry’s eyes widened, “For-For the, uh, Books for Hope campaign?”

Liam furrowed his brows and laughed, “Yeah, mate. Don’t act all flustered tomorrow; they might not let you meet them if you’re acting all goofy just because I said his name. He seems like your type. I mean, based on the guys I’ve seen you with…”

Harry nodded, shrugging and faking a laugh. “Right. I’ll be sure to, uh, do that. Best behavior. Goodnight, Liam.”

“Goodnight again, mate.”

The door shut again and Harry couldn’t help but close his eyes. Fuck. He wondered how hard he’d have to pray for the night to make sure Louis didn’t show up at his library. The last thing Harry needed was to be faced with the future King of England, who also knew he liked to be spanked, in front of tons of children, parents, and coworkers. The only pro to this? At least he’d made sure Louis hadn’t given him visible hickies.

**xxxxxxxxxx**

Louis had always had a soft spot in his heart for books. No, not because he loved to read for  _ himself,  _ but rather because he just loved to read for his younger siblings. He remembered reading a copy of  _ The Cat in the Hat  _ to Lottie when she was a kid, then reading the same thing a few short years later when Felicite was a toddler, then with the first set of twins, and now with his youngest siblings. It was surreal, honestly, to know that he’d read that book — as well as countless others — to his siblings and one day, they’d read those books to their kids and he’d read it to his own. That was — amongst his mother’s persistence, Lottie’s excitement, and his own intrigue and respect — the main reason he’d agreed to go to the Books for Hope event.

He had to admit he also enjoyed dressing up in a suit, but that was only a need-to-know-basis fact. He adjusted the lapels in the car, glancing over at Lottie. “Are you meeting up with Tommy after this?”

The blonde nodded, a smile on her lips as she ran the edge of her nail across her lip. “Yeah. I told him this week would be intense because of the jubilee, but he didn’t believe me. Honestly, it’s weird to think mum’s been a queen for 25 years now.” She clasped the compact, sliding it into her clutch before reaching over with both hands towards his tie. “Let me fix this. She’ll have a fit if she knows your tie looked a mess before such a hyped up event.”

Louis smirked, “Hyped up? Don’t you think there’s a more serious way to say that, Princess Charlotte?” He felt her jerk on his tie just a  _ bit  _ too much. Fair enough; he deserved that. She hadn’t been called that in years, even to the public. Even when she  _ was  _ called Princess Charlotte, it was only in the most prestigious and regal situations. The media sometimes slipped, which was often times a hoot simply because Louis liked to blame James and Niall for it  _ every  _ time (only teasing, of course).

“That’s enough sass out of you, Prince Louis. Or should I say Duke of Cambridge? It’s getting closer and-”

He shook his head, “Lottie, please. I don’t want to talk about that. We have to go out and be cheery; my impending marriage to Perrie is anything  _ but.”  _ He was met with a perplexed stare as they rounded the corner towards the library where the event was taking place.

“Did you just say ‘impending,’ Louis?” She was staring at him pretty hard. He guessed the whole “impending” thing was a bit much. He hadn’t exactly gone around telling  _ all  _ his friends and siblings about his agreement with Perrie. He probably wouldn’t have to; if he told Lottie, the rest of the family would know within 12 hours, 16 if it was a busy day.

Truthfully, he didn’t want to get into it, but he knew he had to give her an answer. Unlike his chat with Perrie on Sunday, he couldn’t quite get out of this as easily. Lottie liked answers; he was pretty sure that was a second-born thing. She was worse than their mum, really. “Look, we both know Perrie and I aren’t in love, Lots. It’s not exactly a secret to anyone we  _ really  _ know. She and Niall have their… issues and Lord knows I have mine. We both just decided to take the next few months to just reevaluate our situations and be more honest with ourselves and the people around us. It’s better to do that now than a year from now when we’re already married.” He shrugged it off, hoping that playing it off as no big deal would go well.

He was wrong; it was a big deal.

“Louis,” the blonde hissed, clutching at his arm hard and giving him a deathly stare, “That’s the kind of thing you’re meant to do  _ before  _ you let the whole world think you’re getting married in a year. Or,” she paused, scoffing and shaking her head while her grip on his arm tightened, “I have a wild thought; you could have just never agreed to get married in the first place!” She let go of his arm, but managed to elbow him hard afterwards. He elbowed back in defiance, rolling his own eyes. He really couldn’t wait for Ernie to grow up — or for Lottie to settle down with Tommy someday — so he could share the grief with someone else.

However, he probably deserved that. Well, the elbowing not so much, but everything else... Yeah. It hadn’t been their best idea, but it was what felt right for their families and it wasn’t entirely their choice. This had always been an idea since they were tweens.

“I know, Lottie,” he sighed, turning to look out the heavily tinted window as they approached the library. “We should have planned and thought things through better. We were basically 12 when this all came to fruition, Lots. You don’t remember. Fuck,  _ I  _ hardly remember. We’ve been thought to have been dating since we were that old and mum and Alex planned it all out. Her gown’s been picked out since we were 16. We’ve never really been given a  _ choice.”  _ He bit at his lip before looking back to his sister. It was evident from the forlorn way she was staring at the white clutch in her hand that she felt bad for even beginning the conversation. “It’ll be okay. Don’t worry. Either we’ll get married and just learn to deal with it or… I don’t know. I hope maybe she and Niall can work out their feelings. I just- I don’t know if I can be the one to change things. I know I’m meant to be king; doing that without a female partner… I might not even get a chance unless I marry Perrie. If I don’t marry Perrie and I can’t- Lot, you’ll have to-”

She held up a perfect (fake) nail and shook her head. “Please don’t, Lou. I know how much you’re sacrificing. I just… I guess I just thought you’d already fully explored your other options or talked it out fully with mum and Alex.” She gave him a sincerely sad smile, “It’ll be okay. We have books to read and people to meet, though.” She adjusted her blazer and the top hem of her white blouse underneath before turning towards him.

Louis nodded. “I appreciate your confidence in me. But you’re right; we’ve got a show to put on,” he smiled, turning towards his door as well before he was walking out of the car and fixing his jacket. He turned after a couple steps and held his hand out for Lottie, helping her out of the car. They both quietly and politely thanked Preston (since Paul was out working for Her Royal Highness and whatnot) before they were waving and strolling up the white concrete steps of the library.

The last thing — or rather  _ person — _  he expected to see was none other than Harry, his curls just as long but much more fresh, his skin soft as ever in the daylight, and with perhaps the most  _ endearing  _ grin on his face. Louis wanted to poke his dimples. Well, maybe he wanted to kiss them.

Fuck, the point was Harry was  _ here  _ and Louis had to pretend that he wasn’t dying inside.

“Hello, Your Royal Highnesses,” the woman next to him was saying. Oh. Right. Harry was  _ not  _ alone in front of the doors, which were propped open; instead, he was joined by a younger brunette woman and a woman somewhat older, but Louis wasn’t going to dare guess how old. She was the one talking and, Louis would guess, she was also the boss. “My name is Stephanie Nicks. I’m the head librarian here.”

Without a second thought, Louis politely reached out to shake her hand, “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Ms. Nicks. Your library is beautiful and we’ve heard great things about the Books of Hope program. Our mother sends her deepest apologies. She wanted to be here, but she’s got quite a lot on her plate at the moment.”

Ms. Nicks was smiling in no time, moving on to shake Lottie’s hand and looking quite chuffed as Lottie threw in, “She’s very fond of your program, Ms. Nicks.”

“I just had to do what I could to help the young children, as you can understand. These are my best librarians.” She placed a hand on the shoulder of the younger woman next to Harry.

Louis tried to pretend he wasn’t there, honestly, but he found his gaze drifting as Harry’s colleague explained who she was. It wouldn’t have even been  _ that  _ hard, but there were members of the press and photographers on the left and right of them, not to mention a few lingering inside the doors. This was a  _ nightmare.  _ “...Thirlwall, Your Royal Highnesses. It’s an honor to have you two here today.” 

Lottie spoke up, “We’re glad to be here, Ms. Thirlwall. That’s a lovely dress you’re wearing.”

Jade seemingly blushed at the comment, “Oh! Thank you, ma’am. Your pantsuit is lovely as well.”

Ms. Nicks smiled at them, but made a point to stare at Harry, which made her the second to do so. Louis was struggling, if he was honest. It was hard not to stare at someone so pretty in a  _ pink  _ suit with pretty brown curls. Louis didn’t even know how he was breathing. “And this is Harry Styles.” She gave him a pointed look, nodding her head once.

Louis stuck his hand out before Harry could speak, pleased once Harry met his hand and  _ wow  _ his hands were nice. They had been during the weekend, too, but it was reassuring to know the alcohol hadn’t lied to him. “What exactly is your role in the library, Harry?” Louis asked, licking his lips before slowly letting go of his hand.

“Uh, well,” he bit at his lip, swallowing. Louis could tell he was staring at his mouth. That was… nice. “I’m the children’s librarian. I was hired after graduating to run the children’s activities. Mainly, I’m here to recommend books to them and help run their activities. I’m also somewhat of a confidant. Sometimes the quiet ones are more willing to talk in a quiet place like the library than elsewhere, actually. I enjoy it. It also means I’ve helped the children in the Books of Hope program quite a bit. Or, uh, a lot.” He laughed softly at himself, his cheeks pink from being under Louis’ stare. “That’s what makes your visit so wonderful. We work so hard. It’s nice to know that it isn’t in vain; that it matters. We’d love to see if other libraries are interested in starting similar programs. We think you being here today will help raise awareness.”

It wasn’t easy to admit, but Louis was at a loss for words. Harry was so  _ eloquent  _ when he wasn’t drunk or trying to get his tongue down Louis’ throat. Fuck, even when he was doing that he had a way with words. A dirty way with words, but a way with words nonetheless. 

“I’m sure we can see what we can do. Why don’t you show us around?” Louis smiled softly, “And, please, call us Louis and Lottie.”

He was his own worst enemy and he further proved that by walking to Harry as they turned to lead Lottie and Louis into the library. “Why don’t you show me the children’s area? I’d love to learn more about your work.”

Harry sent him a sweet smile, nodding his head and pointing with his arm to the right of the library as they walked in. “It’s right this way. I’d like to think it’s come a long way since I started working here.”

Louis glanced behind him, giving his ear a gentle scratch, before turning back to Harry and smiling softly. The footsteps behind them stopped, Lottie leading Jade and Ms. Nicks over to the other half of the library while Preston went off to follow Lottie. They’d had an arrangement like this worked out forever and it was clear when Alberto slowly walked towards the children’s wing of the library but strayed far enough behind them that they still had privacy and couldn’t be heard. To be fair, there were  _ some  _ civilians in the library and it appeared they were being assisted by Jade.

It seemed like soft voices were their only option. He went further to the right, into a small rectangular area with bean bags and low tables. “This is the area for children to read in the library, really. And this…” He walked towards a somewhat small room, pulling out a key from his pocket and unlocking it, “is the area we use for some of our events.”

“What kind of events do you have in here?” Louis could play along with small talk, he really could. This was  _ fine.  _ He was not at all nervous about the fact that he was in Harry’s domain after he neglected to tell Harry he was the heir to the British throne.

Harry turned around in the middle of the room, his arms spread wide. “Mostly things like Wii games, sometimes we have storytime in here. Some weekdays around 7 o’clock in the evening we’ll have pajama storytime. It’s just a nice chance for kids to be read a story with their parents. I enjoy it.” He dropped his arms to his sides, suddenly looking like the picture definition of “bashful” before speaking again. “I, uh, even bought some nice flannel pajamas and a robe for those evenings.”

Louis shook his head, hands in his pockets. “That is…” He glanced up at the ceiling then met Harry’s eyes. It suddenly felt like a broom closet rather than a decent sized room for children to be herded into. He stepped closer. “I think that’s quite sweet.”

“Thank you,” Harry smiled, shifting his weight to one leg. His hip was popped out, which only emphasized how well his pink suit fit him. Louis was a goner. “So, uh…”

“Yeah, I…” He took a deep breath, “You, uh, probably want an explanation? I’d like to start off by saying I had no idea I’d be coming to where you work or who you were or anything. This wasn’t planned. I just- I don’t tell people who I am in those situations. It seems… counterproductive, in a sense.”

Harry was chewing on his lip; Louis was very tempted to pull his lip away with his own thumb and forefinger. While it was a nice idea, he had to keep casual. There could easily be eyes watching through the window to the kids’ area and the window in the door they’d let shut behind him. He couldn’t risk his secret getting out. “I was surprised at first, mostly. I just…” He shrugged, clasping his hands behind his back. “I really enjoyed myself and it struck me as odd that you’d lied, but I thought about it… Once I realized, I mean. I think I mentioned to you I studied in France?”

Louis took a step closer, his hands in fists in his pockets. It was the only way not to  _ touch.  _ “You briefly mentioned that before your third shot, I believe.”

That earned a chuckle out of Harry (as well as a blush). “Yeah, well, I’m not up to date on my English news or anything. I was so focused on studying there, you know? I, um, you’re studying too, right? So you understand?”

Louis sighed, letting a hand come out of his pocket. He could handle this. “Yeah. It’s hard to get much done with me mum’s Jubilee and all, but when my focus is entirely on school…” He didn’t know how to say it, but it was just a  _ lot  _ to deal with even without his familial duties. “I’m lucky if I know what month or day it is, love. I understand. Honestly, you not pointing out who I was when you approached me was one of the reasons I even kept speaking to you. I just…” He scratched the back of his neck, voice going quiet. “I can’t let people find out who I truly am when I’m getting married in a year, at least not in that setting. I hope you understand. It was nothing personal.”

Harry was nodding, which was a good sign to Louis that he wasn’t being ridiculous. He was so glad he understood. (If he was honest, he was also very glad because, given the circumstances, Harry hadn’t signed a non-disclosure statement and he’d be  _ screwed  _ if Harry had blabbed. He seemed too kind to do such a thing, though, which was helpful but also painful for Louis.) “I understand. I kind of assumed once I figured it out. Um, congratulations on your engagement.” He had his hands clasped behind his back, a tight smile on his face.

Louis didn’t believe the statement for a second, but he also couldn’t really say how much he wanted to go out for drinks with Harry again or fuck him into his mattress next time. His only other option was to simply nod and speak up: “Thank you very much. I appreciate it. Um… What else is next on the tour?” He gave Harry a soft smile, trying to be as encouraging as possible. He didn’t have time to talk to Harry about his personal life, after all, and he didn’t want anyone to get suspicious. Well, any more suspicious than they already were. Lottie was suspicious of  _ everything  _ Louis did, not to mention Alberto might have been sweating through his shirt wondering why Louis and Harry were taking so long.

Harry nodded, gesturing towards the door. He didn’t seem flustered by Louis changing the subject; in fact, he looked relieved. “Of course. After you. The next area of the library is the area for teens and young adults,” he continued on his tour, guiding Louis by gesturing diagonally to their left towards another corner of the library.

It was clear that, in the time that Louis and Harry had snuck off to have their own private chat, the press had been let in. They were mostly in the area waiting to check out, but the library was so small that they could see them now that they’d rounded the corner from the activities room. Great. No pressure.  _ Just don’t act gay, as per usual, and you’ll be fine. _

(Repeating that sentence over and over in his head, however, did nothing to stop the other voice in his head saying  _ ‘Harry is so pretty. You may just die today, but that’s okay! Who needs to live to rule a country when you could, say, drop dead because of a man with unruly curls and sea green eyes?’) _

Louis led the way, going past about half a dozen wooden tables and chairs. “We use this area to separate the space and allow the youth some space to read. Of course, the young adult section is a bit different than the children’s area…”

He turned around in front of Louis, a smile on his face. “I really take pride in this area. I’ve put a lot of work into it. I know it’s not the main focus of your trip, but…” Harry sighed, stepping a little bit closer, “This area is so important to me. I’ve only been here a year, but I have seen so many young adults come in and look up things on the computers, glance around at the books, and sit down on the bean bags or the chairs in this area…” He glanced around the area and Louis did, too. To the left of Louis there was a bar-style table for teens and young adults to work and read. Past that there were bean bags against the only wall of the area without bookshelves. Behind him, there were three computers at lower tables with pencils and scrap paper for writing book information down. Louis was turned back to Harry as he began to speak again. “I’m grateful that kids have this place, Louis. I know it isn’t my place to ask-”

“But?” Louis raised his eyebrows in interest, entirely unsure of where this was headed. Did Harry want more funding? More attention for the youth area rather than the children’s area? There were so many options.

Harry seemed hopeful upon realizing that Louis wasn’t already refusing to give him a chance to ask. His eyes were lit up — had been since he’d walked Louis past the grouping of tables, honestly — but suddenly there was this  _ edge  _ to them. Whether that edge was desperation or fear or adoration, Louis wasn’t sure, but he knew this meant a lot to him.

“I think this country, or at least London, needs a program for the youth. For kids 13 and over, just to give them a place to feel safe. I have so many books here about growing up, about sexuality, about gender, about self-care, about being yourself… More kids need a place like this. I can’t be the only person who thinks that way, but I don’t know how to do anything. I’ve tried spreading posters, but I’m only one person and this is only one library in London. It isn’t one of the biggest or the most posh, but I know it’s worthy of attention. Every library should have an area like this. The more kids are here, the less kids will end up God knows where doing God knows what and I just…”

“Hey,” Louis began, voice soft as he put a hand comfortingly on the man’s shoulder, “I understand. I’d hate to think of my sisters running around if we weren’t in such a privileged position.” He sighed. He didn’t know  _ what  _ he could do, but he knew Harry was right; more kids in London — and the U.K. in general — needed that kind of outlet. His mum was incredibly passionate about helping children all over England, but he also knew how much money would be involved and he knew how many people who reported to his mum on a regular basis felt about social programs.

Harry nodded, “I know it’s going to be difficult, but I think it’s something I’d love to really push. I just, well, I’m a bit busy with running the program itself and trying to have a personal life…” For the briefest moment, Harry held his eye contact in an entirely different way than before. If Louis was any more naïve, he’d think the more intense stare was accidental. “I just want to know I’m not crazy to think it’s possible. Jade seems to think it’s a bit of a pipe dream and Stevie is more than supportive, but our resources aren’t as large as yours are.”

This wasn’t going to be easy, Louis knew that much, but he also knew that this was something Harry was passionate about. It was the same way he’d been speaking about Haribo gummy bears when he was tipsy at the bar. (Apparently he liked all of them except for the translucent white/clear one, which Louis couldn’t help but find endearing.)

“Um, if you have a card, I can take it,” Louis began, “I’d love to help you. I’ll see what I can do, okay? But I can’t make any promises at the moment.” He knew Ben would throw a fucking  _ fit,  _ but he also knew his mum and James would jump at the chance to make this work.

Harry nodded, “Of course. I have one in my office.” He sent Louis a soft smile. “Thank you so much. This just… means the world to me, honestly.” Louis took a step to the side, using his arm to point Harry towards what he was assuming was his office. (The large letters saying “MR. HARRY” decorated with scribbles and kids’ signatures gave it away. He secretly wondered if Harry was tall enough to put them up above that particular window in his office without a ladder.)

The letters, as he assumed, were over Harry’s office window. Harry led the way, which was nice but also incredibly  _ difficult  _ for Louis when he knew looking down would give him a beautiful view. Unfortunately, his royal duties did not include staring at pretty librarian’s arses.

Louis followed him into the office, impressed to see it was a bit longer of a room than he’d thought. It was still tiny, which meant Harry only took about three seconds to grab his business card before handing it over. Louis glanced down at it, impressed to see a small drawing on the card. “Is this meant to be… a paper anchor drawn on here?” There were small lines inside the anchor, definitely meant to be folds and crinkles in the paper the anchor was made of. It was quite an impressive drawing, but then again, Louis wasn’t much of an expert on art.

“Um, yeah. It’s on all of them. It symbolizes how books are an anchor to some people — they help through tough times and they’re a constant, keeping you in place — but they’re also a way to let go of reality. That’s why it’s made out of paper. The paper won’t allow the anchor to really weigh you down and keep you stuck in deadly waters; it’s the same way books can lift people out of a bad funk, make them think about something great when things feel hopeless.”

Louis couldn’t deny that he was slightly taken aback by that explanation. It made total sense, but it also hit his head hard. He remembered his mum talking about how reading books to him when he was first born helped her grieve the loss of her father. It made total sense. “Wow. That’s… Very fitting.” He smirked, “Bit deep for a business card, though, innit?”

Harry let out a loud cackle, quickly slapping a hand over his mouth. Louis smirked; seemed he did that no matter how drunk or sober he was. “Yeah, I guess so. I’m glad you understand it, though. Shall I, uh, show you around the rest of the library?”

“That sounds lovely, yes. I’m a big fan of non-fiction.”

Louis knew immediately that Harry knew he was lying. “Oh, really? What kind of non-fiction do you like?”

Shit. Louis shrugged a shoulder, fluttering his lashes in a way he  _ knew  _ had people falling at his feet. “You know, the kind that isn’t fictional.”

Harry bit at his lip, clearly trying not to laugh at him. “Right, well, if you’ll just walk out and head to your left past the door and the checkout area, I’ll lead you to the non-fiction that isn’t fictional.”

Louis glanced over his shoulder, glaring in the most teasing of ways, before he followed Harry’s instructions. “I’ll remember this when I’m trying to fight for your cause, Harold!”

A chuckle, a nearly  _ audible  _ smirk. “It’s Harry, not Harold, and I’m sure you won’t.”

Well, no. He wouldn’t.


	3. three

Louis couldn’t help but sigh as he took his seat at the large table. Lunch was always great at Kensington Palace. It helped that he’d lived there his whole life and the people serving his mum (and the whole family) knew all of their favorites and dislikes down to a T. “Thank you,” he mumbled, not bothering to check his tea before taking a sip of it and sending a wink to Linda, just a few years younger than his mum who he practically considered an aunt. She sent a wink back before she was retrieving tea for the others.

“We really must not dawdle here, everyone. Niall and I must be going in an hour,” James said, giving Linda a small and a quick “thank you” under his breath as he took his tea from her. “This meeting is 90% you, Louis,” he sent Louis a look that let him know he meant business, “so have at it.” Right then. Louis had barely been sitting for three minutes and already he was meant to speak up about Harry’s ideas. Right then.

He took another sip before setting his tea down and adjusting the napkin in his lap. “Well, we all know how well Books for Hope is going. Giving books to young kids is great, but… There was a young man at the library Lottie and I visited that really made some great points about what else we can get libraries to do for young people. In the parts of the city that…” He shook his head, “The parts of the city we need more security to go into, the ones James warns us all not to comment on, really need more. Young people go home from school and they’re all alone or roaming the streets or — God forbid — doing much worse. We can’t afford that. As a city, as a country, we need better. London is bad, but think about other large cities. Liverpool, Manchester… They all need programs like Books for Hope, but they also need to get more out of it than free books for children to take home. We need to focus on the older kids, too. I’d hate to think about what Phoebe or Daisy could be getting involved with if we weren’t in such a privileged position-”

Ben scoffed. He would never understand how Britain had voted for him time and time again, no matter how charming he seemed. He was a good looking man, but his country deserved a better Prime Minister. “You and I both know how horrible some areas of this country — even this _city,_ as you pointed out — can be, but we don’t have enough money in the budget for a project like that. Housing, schooling, tourism, health and safety-”

“Ben, I _sincerely_ hope you putting tourism before health and safety was just the order they came to mind, _not_ their order of importance,” Louis hissed, his cup of tea letting out a rather violent _clink_ as he placed it on his coaster. “Do you not understand that helping our children to stay off the streets and to educate them about the importance of reading is just as important as your precious tourism endeavors? We need to make sure this country has a future.”

“A future where _you’re_ going to be the king, or have you forgotten that fact, Louis? That your privilege you speak of is a gift?” Ben was sipping his tea casually, while Louis wanted to throw himself across the table and _strangle_ the man.

Jay finally piped up from her spot at the end of the table. She was wearing a more casual yellow dress, making her skin look more luminous and bronzed than usual, as she set down her glass of water. “Ben, I sincerely hope you’re not talking down to the future of this country, to the heir of this country? Please show some respect. I would never speak down to you in your place of residence.”

Ben straightened up at that, the prick. Louis couldn’t help but be proud, though, that his mother wasn’t afraid to hand Ben’s arse to him. Frankly, it was fitting that they were eating lunch because she might as well have put it on a silver platter. “You’re right, ma’am. I’m very sorry.”

“I am not the one you owe an apology to,” she dismissed him, taking another sip of her water as Ben turned to Louis.

He held up his hand instead of waiting for Ben to spew more nonsense. “Not necessary, Ben. I am fully aware of how privileged I am. I said it myself. We — as in this family, people in power, everyone at this very _table —_  in a place of privilege. I never want to look a patron for a charity, an ambassador, a commoner, or anybody, for that matter, in the face without them knowing that I am aware that a lot of my problems are not theirs. I will never know what it’s like to work paycheck-to-paycheck. I will never have to save up money week after week to send my kids on a special trip or for a family holiday to Disneyland. They know that, I know that, but I don’t think _you_ understand it.” He paused. “I need to know that every person in this kingdom is taken care of, that they can focus on the things they enjoy rather than the things I’ve been handed on a silver platter all my fucking life. I don’t want a single person to go home starving or uneducated or in debt. I want to make this country a place I’m 100% proud to be apart of, as a citizen and as the heir to the throne they all admire. Do you think my mother has worked herself to the maximum for as long as I’ve been alive — and longer, need I remind you — for this country to turn into shambles? We need to make this country great for everyone, not just the white men who drive nice cars and work nine to five.” He looked over at his mother, taking a deep breath for the first time in what felt like _ages_.

Jay had a look on her face that normally wasn’t there, her throat bobbing as she clearly blinked back tears. She had every right to be upset that he’d just stomped all over the Prime Minister’s very essence, yet he knew that’s not what this was. This was pride, damn the repercussions. She didn’t even seem to notice the way James was _clearly_ sweating through his dress shirt and suit. (Or, rather, she saw but didn’t care because Ben deserved such a verbal beating.)

Ben had the nerve to look embarrassed. No. That wasn’t it. Louis stared at him, could see he was sweating, but not out of nerves. No, this was different. This was out of pure embarrassment. He deserved it, Louis knew, but still there was a very small portion of his brain that told him to apologize. It was clear he was speechless.

Louis needed to show he could be diplomatic here… Maybe. “I realise that this is a lot of money if this program expands and turns into an afterschool program of sorts. I am not an idiot, as my degrees and my time in this role have proven to you, Mr. Winston.” He took a sip of tea, setting it down as he swallowed. “I’m just asking that we slowly expand. We can start with the libraries we’ve already highlighted in public. I want to start with the library from the event yesterday. I think that’s fair, yes? The man who works there, Mr. Harry Styles, is a truly dedicated children’s librarian. I wouldn’t have taken the idea from just anyone.”

James nodded his head, slowly. “Yes, Mr. Winston. Louis is right,” he smiled, slowly, “I’ve spoken to Mr. Styles before. He’s an excellent young librarian, definitely got a sharp mind. He could truly help us. We need to help the youth of this country or else we may not have a future. Need we remind you, Mr. Winston, that you _campaigned_ on the promise of a better future for the country?”

Ben cleared his throat, his head hung as he looked at his hands in his lap. “Um,” he paused, clearing his throat again before looking up to meet Louis’ eyes from across the table then looking towards the head of the table to meet Jay’s eyes, “You’ve made some lovely points, Your Highness. I can understand why Her Majesty asks you to attend meetings. I’m quite sorry I’ve previously turned down requests to meet with the three of you. This country’s children should be a priority. I want the future to be bright. I do have one condition, however. We just start with the one library, as you say, and we make a press release saying this was a joint decision.”

Johannah hummed, pushing a piece of hair behind her ear to untangle her dangling earring from her waves. “We will have to agree to those circumstances, yes?”

Louis smirked, “Of course.” James nodded, giving a small “yes” as well before getting to writing as the wait staff began to bring out their plates of food.

“Just remember, Mr. Winston: I’ve been a member of this family for 25 years. You’ve been a prime minister for a year and a half. I’m more than willing to compromise, but I will not stand for abuses of power, negligence, or belittling. I’m educated, I’m loyal, and I’m willing to do what I have to for my country. I just hope we can agree to discuss matters rather than make snide remarks, yes?”

Ben nodded, a soft smile on his face. Louis could see the fear in his eyes as he replied. “Of course, Your Highness, of course.”

That’s just what Louis wanted to hear.

**xxxxxxxxxx**

Niall sighed, his phone sliding into his pocket as the door opened and Louis came out. “So, how did my favorite prince do?” He was teasing, of course, but Louis was still smiling proudly anyway. That Neil, what a sweetheart… Even if Louis was the only prince he knew, Louis was still endeared.

“Well, dear Neil, I think it went well,” he smirked, adjusting his tie and walking down the long corridor. He gave Leigh-Anne a nod as she approached, handing him a stapled stack of paper. “How was your holiday, love?”

The woman smirked, shrugging her shoulders. “Full of sand and sex on the beach, as always. How’d the Books of Hope event go?”

Louis shrugged, that smirk still on his face.

“He’s smirking,” Leigh glanced over at Niall as they kept walking outside towards the gardens. Luckily, they were enclosed and not viewable to the public. It just gave Louis a good place to smoke, which is precisely what he wanted to do in his 20 minute break before meetings. “Why is he smirking, Ni?”

Niall furrowed his brows, “Pez didn’t tell you? That guy he hooked up with at the pub is the children’s director at that library. I wasn’t there, but Lottie told me they disappeared for about five minutes. My bet’s on a quickie in the loo. Well, the loo and the _Lou.”_ He wiggled his eyebrows and Leigh-Anne let out a gasp of interest.

“Ohh! Do tell!”

Louis glared at them both, “There’s nothing to tell because there _was_ no quickie. It was strictly business… Though I did get his business card and I possibly ripped off a piece of it to give him my personal number.”

Niall shook his head, “So much for it just being a one-off thing — no pun intended — while you try to grin and bear the wedding that’s being planned for you that you have no say in.”

While Niall held the door to the garden open, Louis walked in and opened his jacket, Leigh trailing behind him as he sat at one of the marble garden tables. He pulled out his pack of cigarettes, setting them and his black lighter down in the center before setting the stapled papers down. “It’s not really like that, Niall. I just… I want to help him and he’s a good guy. That’s all, okay?”

Louis knew, even as the words came tumbling out of his mouth, that that wasn’t it. However, he certainly couldn’t tell Niall about the deal he and Perrie had made to try to explore their options without cancelling the wedding, to sow their oats, to get it out of their systems. They’d be fine. They could still get married. They could still have children and rule the United Kingdom. No pressure at all. Just the fate of the whole country. No biggie.

“While this is fascinating — and I’m not just saying that; I _am_ interested in your sex life — you really need to look over the notes for the art gallery tonight, okay? I know you don’t like these kinds of things, but it’s best for all of us that you know the artists, their kinds of work, their inspirations-” Leigh was cut off by Louis offering her a cigarette, to which she shook her head before continuing, “I know you don’t want to study this information, but this _is_ your life now that you’ve come back to the public side of things. It’s the worst part, I know, but mingling and being well-informed on these people will help. The charity that organized the gallery does _so_ much for the NHS. We need to schmooze a bit, babe, okay?”

Louis nodded his head, taking a drag and exhaling as he opened past the title page of information for the charity event.

_Artist Name: Zayn Malik_

_Inspiration(s): Family, superheroes, mental health, racial issues/tensions, equality_

“This guy seems to be well-rounded,” he teased, smirking as Leigh tapped on her phone incessantly. He read about the man’s most recent piece, something to the effect of racial tensions between people of light and dark skin in all areas of the world. It focused on how languages all changed, but the words still meant the same thing. “Interesting…” He glanced at the picture of the man himself, his hair buzzed down short. He had a modelesque face, full of sharp angles but soft eyes and a wide smile. He seemed friendly enough. _Next artist,_ he thought to himself.

_Artist Name: Harry Styles_

Louis glanced between Niall and Leigh-Anne. “You’re both funny.”

Niall and Leigh shared a look, then looked back down at Louis’ paper then up at him.

“What?”

“What are you talking about?”

“What do you mean ‘what am I talking about?’ Did you two Facebook stalk him?” He flipped the paper around, staring at Niall. “Seriously, just tell me that you didn’t look up all this info on him and we can pretend you didn’t hack into Leigh’s computer or her office or-”

“Lou, I printed those all off myself and went right from the printer and the stapler to _you._ Niall did nothing. That’s all the official information that Nick and I found.”

Louis stared at Leigh-Anne, narrowing his eyes. It only took half a second before her hands were up in surrender.

“I _swear,_ Lou, Niall and I did _nothing_ to those. If he’s in there, he’s an artist…” She trailed off, leaning over and staring at where he was now holding the papers in front of him on the table. “Wow. He’s a babe. No wonder you didn’t tell him who you were.”

He shook his head, sighing. “I believe you, I guess. He does seem quite creative.” He finally took the opportunity to look at the paper and read, rather than accuse two of his best friends — not to mention two of the best people on the family’s (and his, in Leigh’s case) payroll — of fucking with him.

_Artist Name: Harry Styles_

_Inspiration(s): Equality, ‘60s and ‘70s music, romantic comedies_

_Featured Piece(s): A series of cool-toned photographs revolving around the ocean superimposed over warm-toned photographs revolving around a bath of pink water_

_Day Job: Children’s Director at Miss Victoria Public Library_

_Fun Fact(s): Mr. Styles is a fan of poetry and often writes it when experiencing artistic block to let out frustration._

Louis shook his head, “Still freaks me out how you and Grimshaw find these random facts.” Did they go through his internet history or something? He wasn’t sure he wanted to know the answer, if he was honest.

Leigh smirked, tapping at her phone some more. She sing-songed, “That’s for me to know and for you to never find ou-out.”

**xxxxxxxxxx**

After quite a bit of convincing — and maybe bribing Perrie with a pair of shoes she’d been eyeing online for weeks but waiting to buy until she finished a big paper — Louis had finally gotten Perrie and Niall to _both_ tag along even though Niall had been the only one invited to the show. The gallery was modern, clearly a newer building, with slate gray walls and shiny black and white marble floors. Louis had to admit he’d rarely seen artwork hanging on dark gray walls, but it was refreshing to see an even lighter gray on the ceilings (he was half tempted to call it an off-white, but he was sure the artists in the room would think the Prince was an uncultured imposter).

Upon entering the gallery, it was hard to find a room that didn’t have a nook nor a cranny without a photographer or a member of press. The owner of the gallery, a stocky man with glasses and an oddly paternal vibe, was the first to greet the three of them (as well as the five members of security they’d been forced to bring with) with a firm handshake and a warm smile. “Hello, Your Highness, Miss Edwards,” he began, giving Niall a questioning look.

“Niall Horan, Assistant Press Secretary for Kensington Palace,” he introduced himself, returning the handshake. “It’s quite a lovely venue, Mr. Twist.”

The man had his hands clasped in front of him with a jovial look on his face at the praise. Clearly, this all meant quite a lot to him. Looking around, Louis could understand why. It was clearly an elegant affair. From the looks of the waiters, the tags under the pieces of artwork that looked quite permanent for a temporary gallery, and the number of people, it had probably cost a small fortune to fund. He quickly glanced back to Robin as he spoke again.  “Thank you, Mr. Horan. I appreciate it. It took a lot of searching to find this venue, but I’m quite proud of this.”

Louis smiled at him, “As you should be, Mr. Twist. This is such a lovely venue. We haven’t missed your speech, have we?” He specifically had read about Robin having some sort of speech towards the beginning of the night, which Louis didn’t want to miss. He had some… unofficial business to attend to, so to speak. He wanted to find Harry’s portion of the gallery, but there was no way he was going to risk making his family look foolish just by looking for him.

“No, no. That won’t be for an hour or so. Feel free to look around. If you need anything, I’ll be walking around the whole night,” Robin smiled, “Don’t be shy. I’m sure the artists would all love to meet you.”

Niall smirked, scratching at his chin and clearing his throat. (Louis wasn’t going to acknowledge that the noise sounded more like an “again” because he was a _professional_ prince, thank you very much.) Louis nodded his head, “We’ll be sure to keep that in mind.” He gave Perrie a gentle squeeze, her cue to go into her typical spiel she gave in these situations.

“Thank you so much for inviting us again, Mr. Twist. You’re doing such a great thing here tonight. We’d really like to thank you for all your charity does for the NHS. Really, it’s so important that some medical facilities own their equipment and your donations really help.” She gave him her sweetest smile as she shook his hand yet again. As Louis (and Niall, based on the googly eyes he was giving her) had predicted, Robin seemed flattered by her, well, flattery.

“Thank you, Ms. Edwards. It’s really not that big of a deal. My team works as hard as they can to help out. Even if we can provide just one machine in one hospital or clinic, that’s better than them not owning something outright. I think we can all agree it helps make our healthcare system run more smoothly,” Robin dropped her hand with a smile on his face. “If you’ll excuse me, I believe I may be needed in the kitchen.” He glanced over to his left towards the kitchen where a waitress was looking at him in a bit of a panic.

All three of them nodded, but Louis did the speaking. “Of course, Mr. Twist. We’ll hopefully see you later.” With that, Robin nodded before heading off to the kitchen. Louis led Perrie along further into the room, glancing around at the artwork all over the room. “This is quite a nice set up, isn’t it, love?”

Perrie snorted behind her hand, shaking her head. “You know, we will have plenty of time to look loved up later. You can go and find your precious librarian artist man.”

Niall smirked, standing in front of them with two drinks in one hand and one drink in the other. He handed the excess drink to Louis before offering Perrie the other, which she accepted after gently clinking against the other two as Louis glanced down at the champagne in the glass.

“He’s not _mine._ I would never want to take ownership of someone like that,” Louis muttered as he took a sip. While he swallowed, he glanced around the room and attempted to be subtle, but he was well aware of two pairs of blue eyes following his around the room.

“Ooh!” Perrie gently squeezed at his waist where her hand was lazily draped. “Is that him?” She whispered in his ear, nodding her head off to the far left. He could just barely see a flash of long curls and a black suit. “Go get him. We’ll be fine. We’ll say you found a friend of the family’s. It’s not a lie; you might help him with Books of Hope.”

Louis smiled softly at her. He didn’t often admit it, but he’d be lost without Perrie and Niall. Sure, Leigh-Anne was a necessity to his work life, but for his own _sanity?_ Well, his two favorite people definitely kept him level-headed. He’d be a wreck without the two of them.

He stepped in front of her and gave her a chaste kiss on the mouth. Frankly, it was expected of them on some occasions, it made for great chatter from people who were (no doubt) watching from afar, and it was something they’d done simply out of friendship for as long as he could remember.

(If he was being honest, Perrie was probably the person in his life he’d kissed the most, but he hated to dwell on _that_ particular fact.)

He turned around. _Maybe I can fix that, though._

As Louis left, Niall sighed softly as he watched Louis walk away. “I can’t believe he thinks this will work out. I want it to — for him — but I just-”

Perrie nodded, pursing her lips. She didn’t want to admit it to herself, but it pained her significantly to think about Niall feeling this way about Louis trying to do what he wanted. Wouldn’t that be for the best after all the dancing they’d been doing around their own feelings? Wasn’t it worth it to give _themselves_ a chance? “I think we both need to stop ignoring our real feelings.” She lowered her voice, taking a step closer and turning her head to whisper to him. “We made a deal to explore our feelings before the wedding gets too close. I want him to do this. He _needs_ to do this, even if it’s just a fling. I think all three of us could do with more honesty.”

As Louis glanced back at them, he could tell maybe Perrie was finally speaking to Niall about their feelings. He turned his head and smiled as he was met with the back of Harry’s head just a few feet ahead of him. He was surrounded by a small group of people in front of one of his art pieces, a medium-sized canvas full of pink, purple, and light blue swirls. It was mesmerising, in a way bath water filled with a fizzing bath bomb was. Part of him wondered if that was the inspiration. He quickly realized he was being stared at and offered a soft smile to the oldest woman and man of the group.

The woman tapped Harry on the forearm, interrupting his current train of thought, and when he looked at her asking what it was she wanted, she directed her eyes over his shoulder at Louis. “The Prince is standing right behind you, baby,” she said, voice soft and low, but Louis could hear her anyway.

Harry was blinding as he turned around, his curls a nice contrast to both his pink suit and his black dress shirt. Not only that, but his dimple was popping and his teeth were on display. His eyes were practically crinkled in joy. That… totally didn’t do things to Louis at all. “Hello, Your Highness,” he said, the twinkle never leaving his eye for a second. “I was happy to hear that there may be hope for more, erm, Books of Hope. No pun intended.”

“Lovely to see you again, Harry,” Louis smiled, “and I was happy to help. It didn’t take much effort at all to do this.” He looked at Harry’s family and friends, some of which had a smirk on their faces and others looked totally enamored with him. He, unfortunately, was used to it, even after all the time his mother had taken him out of the spotlight. “Aren’t you going to introduce me to everyone?” He took a hard look at the woman and took an easy shot. “Are you Mrs. Styles?”

The woman smiled. “Yes, Your Highness. Anne Styles. This is my husband, Desmond.” She glanced over at him before holding her hand out for him to shake. “I’m so sorry. I’m a bit rusty on the protocol of meeting royalty.” She was a darling woman with medium-length hair, a smile on her face.

He shook his head. “It’s lovely to meet you, Anne. And don’t worry about it. Most people don’t. I truly don’t mind, so long as I’m not gawked at.” He shook her hand, “And in the future, it’s perfectly acceptable to call me Louis. I’m not too fussed with titles. At least not yet. I’ll let you know when I’m the king.” He was teasing, of course, but the way he turned on his charm and threw in a wink made the small group around them laugh.

Des finally held out his hand as well, “Lovely to meet you, Louis. I can see why your mother wanted to keep you out of the public view. This can be quite a spectacle, can’t it?” He glanced around and Louis, for the first time all night, became acutely aware of the different cell phones and cameras aimed at him. Some, of course, he knew would be there. Hell, at least two or three were his own family’s people, whose jobs were to photograph them at public events and post on Kensington’s social media pages, but the others…

Well, after years of being given as much privacy as possible, this was a bit overwhelming, but luckily, he did have a _little_ bit of experience with this. Now that he was an adult, this wasn’t as terrifying as it would have been had he faced intruding eyes his whole life. He imagined that would be daunting. Ever since he started college, however, he’d slowly been brought into public events and, well, that made this less terrifying.

“Thank you, Mr. Styles. I’d say I’m used to it by now. Thankfully, my mother eased me into this.” He glanced at Harry, who was staring at him again with that same twinkle in his eye as before. “Did young Harold here inform you that he’s officially in business with my family and the Prime Minister, then? We’re going to do as much as we can to make sure more families get programs Books of Hope, but our main focus will be encouraging programs for kids to go into libraries after school.”

A woman next to Harry’s mother piped up, her red lips framing perfectly white and straight teeth as she spoke. “He did, actually. We’re quite proud of him.” She had a lot of Harry’s features, but not entirely the same. He could only assume she was Harry’s sister, which she confirmed with her next statement. “My baby brother, the philanthropist, librarian, and artist.”

Harry was blushing, which Louis couldn’t deny was a _beautiful_ look on him, especially when he was just standing there doing nothing but being his beautiful self.

“He’s quite the man,” Louis smirked, joining his hands in front of himself. “Is there anything you can’t do?”

Harry huffed a laugh, shaking his head. “Get through an important night without being embarrassed by my family and friends?” He suggested, glaring at all five people in front of him. The last two people were clearly a couple, the woman tan in comparison to her male counterpart with a light dusting of facial hair and a nicely styled head of hair. “This is Liam, my roommate, and his girlfriend, Sophia.”

“Lovely to meet you, Louis,” Liam said, holding out his hand. Sophia did the same with a quiet “hello” under her breath. “I’m sure you two have a lot to speak about, now that you’ll be working on the program together. Why don’t we, um, skidaddle?” He nodded his head towards another branch of the gallery, leading the other four in the same direction.

 _Finally, Alone._ He knew it was horrible to think — certainly not very diplomatic of him, nor very King-like — but he was just glad to finally have Harry alone. He owed it to himself to enjoy his time with Harry for as long as he had it, even if it meant speaking about this new endeavor that Louis had made _sure_ to make James include that in his message to Harry about this new program. They’d have a meeting and everything. It was going to be official. Harry, James, Niall, Louis, Leigh-Anne, possibly Ben, and a few other members of the Queen’s staff would all be present for it. It wouldn’t _quite_ be how he wanted to spend his time with Harry, but it would be well worth it in the end. It’d mean more time together in the long run, which meant more time to truly explore his feelings for Harry. Well, maybe. If Harry was okay with that, anyway….

Speaking of, maybe he should have _said something_ once they were alone. It didn’t feel awkward, though, when his mind finally snapped into the moment. “I can’t believe I had to find out from a stack of papers the size of your head that you’re an artist.” He shook his head, turning his body to admire Harry’s artwork.

Harry had a smirk on his face, leaning in closer and taking a sip of a drink Louis didn’t realize Harry had. In fact, he’d forgotten _he_ had a drink in his left hand until he saw Harry drink. He took a sip as well, just in time for him to nearly choke on it when Harry murmured — his voice was syrupy sweet as _always —_  in his ear, “Which head?”

He coughed a few times, finally forcing the bubbly drink down his throat the right way before glaring at Harry. “The prettiest one,” he shot back.

All he got in response was a hum of approval and the sight of Harry swiping his tongue over his bottom lip from the corner of his eye. Hopefully he’d learn to stop being a smartass around the man who was taught sass from the actual _queen._

Harry finally acted like the professional he was and crossed his hands behind his back, “Thank you for the compliment, by the way. About my head and my art.”

Louis arched a brow, “I don’t recall complimenting your art.”

Harry’s eyebrows furrowed, “That’s the thing about art. The way you said it… If you hated it, you wouldn’t have said it that way. Art makes you do strange things. Cry, laugh, smile, throw up…”

Louis snickered, “Are you talking about the horrifically sexualized sculptures of women’s bodies that your sculpting counterparts always make?”

His face turned less serious, softer with a hint of a smile on his face. “The female form is beautiful, Louis, but the objectification of women is nauseating.”

He could only sigh in return. “I know what you mean. Sometimes I see some of the things guys say to women and girls and I just feel so helpless. I just hope my sisters know better than to let guys speak to them that way.” He’d thought about it mostly with Lottie, but now that Phoebe and Daisy were getting to the age where dating was normal, he was getting worried about them. And God only knew what life would be like — more like men — when Doris was old enough to start dating….

Harry stood in front of him, framed by his own artwork, and managed to look as sweet as his words. “They’ll know. They have you as an example and your mum. They’ll all be okay. I’m sure you’ll threaten a mandated class for young people about how to date and not be an arsehole.”

Louis laughed softly, “Frankly, I’m already considering it. Our generation is no better than theirs are. If ours weren’t so bad, maybe theirs would be better.”

“You have a good point. Thankfully, you don’t have to deal with the dating pool now,” Harry smiled at him. He could tell it was fake, that Harry was just trying to be nice and genuine, but that it wasn’t _quite_ working for him. Louis couldn’t say he blamed him. Perrie was lovely, but she’d never be his ideal spouse. Harry knew that, he was sure, just as well as Louis, Perrie, and just about everyone under his mother’s employment knew that.

Louis licked his lips. “I’d like to take a dive into the pool again,” he muttered, his voice soft. Harry’s eyes had dimmed when he’d spoken before, but now, they were twinkling again. He couldn’t believe _he_ could do that to someone so beautiful. “I know it would be complicated, but we’ll be spending a lot of time together. It doesn’t have to be anything, um, serious. We could maybe just grab dinner after the first meeting and-” He was speaking low, quiet, and he hadn’t noticed, but he was a few steps closer. It wasn’t too close; this could appear platonic and casual, unless you heard his words.

“Yes. Okay,” Harry was grinning, nodding his head. “That sounds like a plan. I understand…” He paused, bringing his hand up and itching his nose with his index finger, “I know how difficult this probably is going to be, so I don’t think either of us should set our expectations too high. Just dinner.”

Louis understood what he meant. This could backfire. Fuck, this could turn into the biggest scandal of 2017, but Harry would be well worth it. The idea of him and Perrie _both_ getting a chance to explore their feelings before they were husband and wife… That would be worth it more than anything else.

**xxxxxxxxxx**

Harry couldn’t say he was proud of it, but it was a relief to have found a few seconds to disappear. Thankfully, there were two levels to the gallery, which meant he and Louis had managed to slink into a vacated bathroom on the top floor.

Louis’ hands were under his jacket, pressing his black dress shirt into his back and cushioning him from the door as Harry hungrily bit at his lower lip. It had been hard, really, to be talking to him for 15 minutes and not get his hands on him.

Luckily, Louis was just as desperate as he was.

There was something about the way Louis was licking into his mouth and sucking at his tongue that made him want to paint every wall of the gallery in rainbows, all while staying attached to Louis’ mouth. He gasped in surprise as Louis’ hand tugged on his hair, just enough to expose Harry’s neck and get his mouth on it. “Mmm. We should– Fuck. We’re gonna look wrecked when we get out of here, Lou. We need to stop.”

 _“We?_ I’m not the one with his dress shirt untucked.” Louis was smirking, his head tilted and just a few inches away. Even up close, Harry could tell Louis was not self-aware.

He scoffed. “Yes. You look like you’ve just run a marathon and your lips are as red as an apple.”

Louis rolled his eyes, “Stop talking and let me kiss you again.”

Harry couldn’t argue with that logic, moving his hands from Louis’ waist to the sides of his neck, his fingers lingering in his hair. He pulled away long enough to smirk at Louis, who returned it with mirth in his eyes, before Louis was sucking on his bottom lip.

Before he could think to pull away to breathe, there was a knock against the door.

He wasn’t sure who jumped first, but they collided in their quick rush to get away from the door. “Yes?” Harry called, hoping it wasn’t someone looking for Louis and hearing his voice instead.

“It’s Perrie. Louis’ in there with you, right?” She asked, voice soft enough that it wouldn’t travel anywhere but through the door.

Louis sighed in relief, turning to Harry and nodding his head down at Harry’s shirt. He just rolled his eyes as he started to tuck it back in, unzipping and unbuttoning his trousers to get it right. “I’m, um, in here. Yeah. I’ll be out in a minute.” Harry glanced up, grinning. Louis was _very_ focused on Harry’s hands and the prospect of his trousers being undone. He’d be lying if he said he wasn’t flattered.

“In a minute? Lou, c’mon. Niall and I are suffering out here. They keep asking why you left me all by my lonesome. I had to tell them you two might be making a business call. It’s only a matter of time before they realize ‘business call’ means ‘getting o-’”

Louis sighed, “We are _not_ doing that. I’ll be out once Harry fixes his trousers.” He immediately grimaced.

“His trousers?!” Perrie whisper-yelled. Even though Harry had never met her, he could still imagine her shaking her head and looking somewhere between cross and flabbergasted.

Harry snickered, “Don’t worry; your future husband just pulled my shirt too hard. Be lucky you’re not the one he’s actually interested in.”

Louis gave Harry a _look,_ full of surprise and horror. Maybe he was worried Perrie would be offended, or he was just not in the mood to be reminded of how messed up his love life was. Either way, Perrie didn’t feel the same based on her soft laugh. “I’m very glad. You shoulda seen the way he got all googly eyed when he told me about-”

“That’s enough!” Louis whisper-yelled back at her, his cheeks scarlet in comparison to the soft honey tan he usually sported. Harry felt quite smug; that had to be half from embarrassment and half from all the making out they were doing.

Harry finally fixed his trousers, then buttoned up his jacket a bit to cover how his shirt wasn’t as neatly tucked in as before, before Louis unlocked the door and opened it.

Perrie smiled softly, reaching her right hand out. “Hi, Harry. It’s lovely to finally meet you,” she smiled, “I’m so sorry you had the misfortune of getting into our… mess.”

He couldn’t help but appreciate that she knew how messy this all was. It felt messy to be interested in someone who was set to be married in a year. It was even messier when that person was going to become the king of your country. Harry wasn’t sure he’d even be able to explain it to Gemma or his parents. He wasn’t sure they’d understand.

“It’s nothing for you to be sorry about.” He shook her hand and smiled. “It’s my own fault.” He smirked at Louis. “I’ve always been a sucker for boys with brown hair and blue eyes.”

Perrie bit her lip, glancing over her shoulder. She was staring at Niall, who was holding both of their champagne flutes and nodding at his watch, as if to signal that they needed to hurry. “I suppose I have, too.” She turned back to Louis and Harry, taking a deep breath. “This would be a lot easier if we were each other, wouldn’t it?”

Louis rolled his eyes, “This isn’t like one of those weird romance novels with body switching and alternate universes you’re always reading, Pez.” He made a sweet swatting motion, putting his arm around Perrie and giving Harry a tight smile. “Let’s get this over with, shall we?”

Harry followed behind, watching the way they walked. If he didn’t know better, if he hadn’t had Louis’ hands and lips all over him, he would have thought they were together. Looking at them now, it was quite obvious that they were just friends. Best friends, of course, but still _just_ friends.

He figured, as he headed down the stairs behind them and next to Niall, that it would only be a matter of time before the public realized that, too. He just hoped they could accept the truth as easily as he had.


	4. four

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is it! I hope you've all enjoyed it so far!
> 
> This is the chapter that includes the forced coming out I mention in the earlier chapters.
> 
> I hope you all enjoy it and appreciate the badassery that follows!

It wasn’t easy anymore. It had only been a month, but what a stressful month it had been. It was hard to pretend to be engaged to someone while also dating someone and pretending that your best friend wasn’t dating the person you were meant to marry.

To be fair, it could have been much worse. Louis was well aware of that. He was sure all four of them were. Luckily, they’d been able to keep it under wraps.

Well, for the most part. There was that time Perrie left her bra in Niall and James’ office, which was awkward, mostly because it was so expensive that James had to have guessed it was hers or someone of a similar status. Niall had  _ never  _ dated or hooked up with anyone even remotely associated with Kensington Palace or the Royal Family, so that had been… harder to explain, or so Niall said. “I told him I let Perrie change in here the other day to get ready for a meeting. He believed me… I think.” Louis wasn’t going to say it was a horrible excuse, but it was. Luckily, even that hadn’t made things go south.

It was Harry’s fault, really, that things were getting harder to handle. He was spending the night all the time. It amazed him how it had been about five weeks since they met yet Louis felt like he’d known him his entire life.

“I promise you I’ll make it out of here by seven,” Harry was mumbling into his hip, his warm breath ghosting over Louis’ cock. He got tired after giving head sometimes, which was so sexy simply because he tried  _ so  _ damn hard. There was nothing the man didn’t put his whole heart into.

He shivered at Harry’s words, knowing Harry would stick to them. “You’d better. The paps’ll be here at half past to get shots of me and Perrie leaving for that meeting.” He picked his head up from his pillow, looking down at Harry. “Can you come up here? You’re teasing.”

Harry smirked, shaking his head. “I’m not the tease here, Mr. Let Me Eat You Out in Kensington Palace’s 80th Bathroom.” He crawled up Louis’ body, straddling his hips and rocking his own down to meet Louis’. He earned a gasp, despite Louis’ best efforts to ignore it, and laughed briefly. “What’s the matter, Lou? Can’t think with my arse on your cock like this?” He emphasized his words with another slow grind, biting his lip as Louis’ dick pressed against his. “Or is it the memory of me with my hands on the vanity while you a-”

He was flipped over abruptly, bursting into giggles as Louis got comfortable above him and nuzzled their noses together. “I’m gonna put on another condom and you’re gonna let me fuck you then eat you out, aren’t you?” He asked, his voice a rough whisper. It was Harry’s turn to shiver this time and Louis felt more than smug.

Okay, maybe he  _ was  _ the tease, but it was nice. He had finally gotten used to the idea of Harry not giving him consent for every single thing. Before, with random and very few hook-ups, he’d had to be careful so as not to get some arsehole trying to sue him and say he hadn’t asked permission. He  _ knew  _ what Harry wanted now, though. He didn’t realize how great it would be to stay with someone for so long until he’d realized it meant not jumping through hoops to make sure there was no possible way his secret would come out (no pun intended). With Harry, there was no worries. Harry didn’t want money. Harry didn’t want attention.

Harry just wanted him, which was made clear by the way he closed his eyes and nodded breathlessly.  _ “Please,”  _ he begged, his hips rocking into the air even as Louis went to the drawer for a condom. He figured, with the way things were going, they’d be asleep in an hour and Harry would be awake in another seven.

He had been wrong. How naive of 10:00 pm Louis to think Harry would be able to be up before seven. Truthfully, he should have known better. Harry was always extra boneless and sleepy after Louis ate him out. He found it endearing, but not so much when it led to Harry nearly  _ killing him  _ in the process.

Louis woke up because he suddenly realized the earth was falling underneath him. Unlike most dreams, this was real. When he opened his eyes, he was staring under the bed with the blankets wrapped around him and an apologetic Harry scrambling to help him sit up.

“I am  _ so  _ sorry,” he said, pressing a kiss to Louis’ hair. “I’m running late.” With that, he was running off to the bag he’d brought with him of work clothes and scrambling to the en suite. Louis pushed himself up using the bed as leverage and looked at the clock.

To say he was surprised to see it was 7:04 in the morning would be a lie. He wasn’t surprised; he was frantic. “Shit,” he muttered, scrambling to untangle himself from the sheets and duvet. He tossed the pieces onto the bed, the mess the least of his priorities.

He quickly opened the bathroom door, glad to see that Harry was already washing his hands and the water in the shower was warming up. “We’re gonna have to be fast, baby,” he muttered, grabbing both their towels and setting them in close reach of the shower before stepping in.

_ “Fook!” _

The water outside stopped and Harry rushed to open the shower door, stepping in after Louis and shaking himself. “Fucking hell,” he muttered.

Louis was already attempting to rub himself down with shower gel, but it was  _ hard  _ when the water was so cold that his nipples could potentially freeze off. Harry stole the gel from him. “Let me help.” He rubbed it all over Louis’ back, making quick work of rubbing and sudsing Louis up.

He handed it back to Louis, turning around. “Do me. We don’t have much time.”

Louis was more than happy to oblige, keeping in mind he had to make sure Harry finished before him. (Frankly, that was  _ always  _ his goal.) He kept his mind on the main goal: wash Harry up as quickly as possible.

When they were out of the shower, he had to guess it was only about five minutes later. They were shivering as they patted down and quickly began to brush their teeth. (Louis didn’t want to talk about the implications of Harry having his own toothbrush at Louis’, especially in his personal en suite, but that was not the point.) He met Harry’s eyes in the mirror, laughing softly around his toothbrush before taking it out to sip some mouthwash and spitting it out. “Flossing has to wait for a day when you’re not making us both late,” he mumbled, not surprised at all by the “heeeey” he got in return.

He took off his towel, dumping it into the hamper before opening up the drawers in his bedroom to find pants. He slid them on, nearly falling into the dresser, before going to his closet.

By the time the bathroom door opened, he just had to button up his dress shirt and put his tie on. Harry was just wearing his best black trousers with a red button-up, the lucky bastard. At least his job involved less people with annoying questions, he supposed. That was perhaps the only perk of being the future King of England.

“I’ll walk you out the back door, okay?” Louis stated, buttoning up his shirt.

Harry strode across the room to him, leaning in and pressing a kiss to his nose. “Let me help you get dressed first,” he stated, promptly brushing Louis’ hands out of the way and buttoning his shirt all the way. He took the tie as well, causing Louis to smirk. “What’s that smirk for?”

“Hmm. Just thinking about how you’re not used to tying ties. Usually I’m the one tying them.” His smirk only intensified as Harry blushed and fidgeted with his collar.

Harry cleared his throat, his face going from soft to serious. “Well, Your Highness, I think it’s time I took control of the ties for the time being.”

Louis arched a brow, “Oh, really? Does that mean you’ll be tying  _ me  _ up tonight for a change?”

He was met with a sharp intake of breath and a shake of his head. “No. You owe me. You had to untie me the other night when Niall and Perrie came home, remember?” Harry looked disappointed as he adjusted Louis’ tie, which was finally around his neck, then pushed his collar down and straightened it.

“I remember. I suppose I can do that then. C’mon. We don’t have time to slack off. You need to help the children of the world and I need to get you out the door before I need to leave with Perrie,” he said, walking over to his wardrobe and pulling out his best brogues and his suit jacket. He tied the shoes, watching as Harry got his essentials ready for the day, namely his keys, phone, and wallet.

They were out the door a few minutes later, after a quick good-bye to Perrie and Niall who were sharing a bowl of fruit in the kitchen.

“You’re  _ sure  _ the paps are by the front door?” Harry asked as they went down the steps. They weren’t as rickety as the elevator in Harry’s building and, frankly, Louis was glad for it.

“I’m positive. Alberto’s kept me informed. They’re all out front. I can sneak you out the back and you’ll be off to work,” Louis smiled, glancing at the door to the other flat in the building. It was nice to have Alberto living so close to him, especially with security being scary now that the public was more interested in his life than ever before.

Harry skipped a few steps ahead and turned the corner, past the steps and towards the back door. “You don’t have to walk me, Lou. We can’t risk being seen,” he muttered, reaching out for Louis’ hand as they came to the back door. It was as white, wooden, and elaborate as the front door, but luckily there was more greenery. Louis was sure that gave Harry some comfort about the prospect of people lurking around.

“I’m well aware, Harold,” Louis said, kissing him on the lips. “I promise you we’ll be okay.” He said, his arms instinctively wrapping around Harry’s waist as he walked him backwards towards the door.

He wasn’t sure who was laughing and who was trying to sneak a kiss, but he was pretty sure it was a mix of them both. Harry finally caught his lips, slow and sweet, before resting their foreheads together. “I need to go. When I’m done, I’ll be back home. I’ll see you tonight, though?”

Louis nodded, rubbing at the small of Harry’s back as he spoke. “Of course. Niall will kill me if we don’t play pictionary tonight. I know you’re an artist and all, but please don’t beat Ni and Pez on purpose. They’re  _ so  _ competitive about this shit.”

Harry let go of Louis, shaking his head. “Last time we did anything with them, you nearly threw all your Scrabble tiles at Niall’s head; I think you’re more the problem than they are.”

Louis took offense to that. “I beg your pardon?”

Harry just shook his head, reaching for the doorknob and stepping away to pull the door open. “Sorry, Prince Louis. Duty calls. And not the stinky kind, either,” he winked.

Louis scoffed, but his heart was doing flips at just how  _ adorable  _ Harry was. He could make any number of stupid jokes or draw on Louis’ chest in Sharpie and he was still as precious as he was when he was snoring or curled up in a ball on the couch. It had only been a month, but it felt like a lifetime.

“C’mere,” he muttered, even though Harry had one foot out the door. Luckily, he was still facing him. All Louis had to do was reach forward and cradle his face, pressing a soft kiss onto his lips. “I’ll see you later,” he whispered into them, pulling away to give him a crinkly-eyed smile.

Harry shook his head, his dimple popping in what almost looked like a painful manner. “You’re a  _ minx.  _ Don’t try that again! You caught me in a moment of weakness,” he said, voice soft as he took a few more steps back, winked, and headed down the steps towards the pavement.

“I’ll see you later, love!” He gave a wink before closing the door as Harry left, his heart feeling lighter as he headed back towards the staircase to grab Perrie.

**xxxxxxxxxx**

**_EXCLUSIVE: Prince Louis Spotted Kissing Philanthropist Harry Styles Outside Notting Hill Flat_ **

_ Just minutes before Prince Louis was photographed leading his longtime partner, Perrie Edwards, to a car to Kensington Palace, he was seen kissing artist-turned-philanthropist Harry Styles. _

_ While he isn’t famous by any means, Harry Styles has gotten quite the attention over the past month and a half because of His Royal Highness himself, who visited the library Styles works at as the Children’s Program Coordinator. The Sun was told exclusively that Styles left “quite an impression on Prince Louis. They spoke as though they were friends and Mr. Styles gave HRH his business card.” _

_ If that doesn’t ring a bell, you may be familiar with Harry Styles’ other known attributes: he’s an artist, recently featured in Robin Twist’s Emotions Gallery  (benefiting cancer patients and their families), and he’s been seen at Kensington Palace to attend meetings about an “untitled charity for city children who need a place to go after class when home is not an option.” We’re told this is why Styles gave his card to Prince Louis. In fact, Prince Louis allegedly “fought so hard for Mr. Styles’ project that he made people wonder if they’d been friends for quite some time.” _

_ Kensington Palace said, in a statement via Niall Horan, Kensington Palace’s Assistant Press Secretary: “Prince Louis and Ms. Edwards will be making formal statements about the matter in a press conference this Friday afternoon. Until then, we have no further comment.” _

Louis rubbed at his eyes, nodding his head at Niall. “We’re doing the right thing here, aren’t we? Releasing these pictures through The Sun?”

Niall sighed, taking a sip from his beer and straddling his chair, “Lou, you and I both know The Sun is a piece of shit, but people still listen to them. They’ll buy it. I know this isn’t how you two wanted to announce things, but at least I got wind of it before it happened. Thank God for Olly and the way Dan is obsessed with him or else we’d be  _ really  _ screwed.”

Louis shook his head, “The thing is, I want to expose them. I want to tell the public what’s happening. I’m tired of lying, Niall.” He met Niall’s eyes over his mug of tea and took a long sip.

“You want to expose The Sun for trying to out you? How do we do that without exposing Olly helping us in the process?” Niall asked.

That was... a good point. Olly Murs had gone to school with Niall and they’d made a pact to sort of scratch each other’s backs when need be. It meant Olly got exclusives with them while Dan Wootton was left to the wolves, making up shitty stories. Unfortunately, this story had been something Dan had been  _ more  _ than eager to take up, the bastard. Louis just didn’t want anyone to think of him as anything other than a snake.

He and Perrie were going to get their happy ending. Just not together. If Dan Wootton had to suffer the consequences of that, then so be it.

“I think I’ve got a plan,” Perrie said, coming in with a glass of white wine in her hand and her coziest pajamas. “You boys interested?”

Niall and Louis met eyes, smirking, before turning back to her.

“Always,” they said in unison.

**xxxxxxxxxx**

“I can’t believe your plan involves you dressing up like Hillary Clinton,” Harry said, giving Perrie a onceover before leaning in to hug her.

She rolled her eyes, “Don’t you know anything about the ‘90s? This skirt and blazer combo is courtesy of  _ The Nanny  _ and don’t you  _ ever  _ forget it.” She booped him on the nose before turning her head to Niall, nearly whipping Harry with her ponytail in the process.

Harry tried not to choke on the hair in his mouth, but he managed to back up a few steps to get away from the long blonde hairs.

“Haz,” Louis called, crossing the large room and meeting him, “Are you sure about this?”

Harry nodded his head, “Of course.” He gave Louis a soft peck on the lips, pleased to notice Alberto and Paul both smirking at their post by the door. “We’re going to nail this. Well, you’re going to nail this. It’s an easy plan. Nothing can get messed up. We’ve worked this all out.”

Louis took a deep breath, smiling softly and glancing around the room. “You’re much more confident than I am, then. I know we talked about everything we all need to stick to, but this is… Harry, this is a huge deal. And you’re sure you’re okay with everything this entails?”

It was hard for Harry to believe that Louis was this nervous, but he also knew it was only because of his fierce need to protect everyone — including those with no voice — that he was acting this way. “I was fine with cutting my hair off last minute, wasn’t I?” He grasped both of Louis’ hands in his, rubbing at the backs of them with his thumbs as Louis stared up at his hair.

Cutting it had been terrifying for a split second, before he realized that it was more than okay for him to have shorter hair. He was still his artistic self. He could just express himself differently now, with his clothing, and be the best boyfriend a prince had ever had. He just hoped the public saw things that way.

“You were. I’m proud of you, by the way. I don’t even miss them that much,” Louis said, in regards to his longer curls. He did reach a hand up to tweak a short strand. It didn’t bounce back like normal, but thanks to whatever was in it, it did go back into place right away. “They’re almost ready for us. You’ll be watching on the TV, right?” He seemed so hopeful and even if Harry hadn’t planned to watch nervously with his stomach doing backflips, he’d have said yes just to make Louis smile.

He pressed another kiss to Louis’ lips before pulling away, “Of course. Is that even a question? I’m very patriotic. I  _ have  _ to watch the future king address his people.” He was smirking, which he could tell calmed Louis’ nerves slightly.

Before he left, they shared one last kiss, and then Louis was off, arm-in-arm with Perrie to another room of the palace to address the press.

Harry nervously sat down with a bottle of water in his hands, moving it from hand to hand as the channel cut to the network’s breaking news information. This was it.

**xxxxxxxxxx**

Louis pulled out Perrie’s chair, allowing her to sit before he pushed it in and took his own seat next to her. “Hello, everyone,” he clasped his hands in front of himself on the table, his navy suit and blue eyes only making his skin look more tan, as if he’d spent the past day on a beach and not thinking of all the information they had to fit into this press conference. “Thank you for joining us today. Perrie and I would like to get to the point here, if you don’t mind. We don’t want to waste anyone’s time, including our own here.”

The press was already attentive, hanging onto his every word, when Perrie chimed in, leaning forward to her microphone as well. “We’d like to thank everyone watching at home and all the networks allowing us into people’s homes. We have a few important things to say and we hope we can inform people thoroughly today.” She and Louis both turned to each other, smiling softly.

She nodded down at his mic, prompting him to begin. “Now, we will have questions at the end, but not many. We hope there won’t be a lot to ask about; our aim is to be as clear as possible here.” He paused, swallowing before continuing again. “I think what you probably want to know more than anything is the nature of my relationship with Perrie. I think it’s quite obvious that Perrie and I love each other very deeply. You’d be hardpressed to find two people who love each other more or in this way. However, this is not a romantic relationship. This was a relationship — is a relationship — based on friendship. When I was a young boy, it was quite clear that Perrie and I would be friends forever. The conclusion for us to get married one day seemed obvious. I don’t want anyone to mistake this for anything it wasn’t; we love each other, we both wanted to be your future monarchs, but we’re afraid that won’t be happening. As of today, our engagement is officially off.”

Perrie nodded, “We really can’t thank everyone enough for all the well wishes through the years, but we just aren’t those kinds of people. It became too difficult for us to lie. It was only natural for us to both be attracted to other people. I’m going to continue my studies to become a lawyer, but I won’t be leaving Kensington Palace for long. I’m taking an apprenticeship under the family’s lawyer. I also think it’s worth stating that I am seeing someone who works here.”

She glanced towards the back of the room and Louis couldn’t help but smirk at Niall, who was clearly pleased with her admitting it. Frankly, it had been so long; he couldn’t believe they hadn’t ended up in this position before. The way he looked at her was nothing like how Louis ever could or would have. Louis cleared his throat, “Okay, Perrie, moving on…” He earned a few laughs, even from Niall and Perrie, who nodded at him to go on from there.

“Now, I want to state something for you point blank: the pictures of me kissing Mr. Styles were not planned or preconceived. We both assumed the photographers were not near the back of the building. With that being said, make no question about what this was. A gigantic tabloid, known for publishing filth, slander, and blatant lies, decided to try to expose a closeted man. Not only that, but they chose to try to out the most influential man in the country. Whether any of you like it or not — and hell, sometimes even  _ I  _ don’t like it — I will be the King of England one day. I pray that day doesn’t come sooner than I, nor you, need it, but I need it to be known that trying to cross me will not end well. I don’t expect respect. I understand people think the British monarchy is outdated, that we need to move on. So long as my family continues to exist, there will be a monarchy. I need to take this time to come out, literally and figuratively, so no one else in my line of succession feels stuck. I am a gay man. I’ve never tried to blatantly hide that. My relationship with Perrie was never used to cover up my sexuality; it was a pre-arranged marriage, from before I even knew I didn’t  _ want  _ to marry her.”

He paused, surveying the room. “I recognize a lot of you from when I first began to attend press conferences, press events, and public outings for my family. I am the same person I was when I was 13. I am the same person I was a week ago. The bottom line here is The Sun tried to exploit my name, my family’s reputation, and my sexuality to make a dollar. Thankfully, our family got word of it do to a very lovely person who has contacts at The Sun. I’d like to personally thank them right now for that. I’d also like to request, personally, that The Sun reach out for comment before ever posting another despicable story about anyone’s personal lives. I’ll be reaching out to Parliament in the future to make sure they are aware of your practices and attempt to see what kind of policies we can put in place to stop your blatant disregard for people’s lives. If push comes to shove and another horrendous story comes from Dan Wootton’s scathy fingertips about  _ my  _ family, there will be legal ramifications.”

Louis thought of the official press release and the articles that would stem from that, how all of them would say Sophia Smith’s family was the reasoning for it, that her dad had been in to have lunch with a colleague of Dan’s (which wasn’t a lie, actually, but rather the perfect alibi for Olly) and overheard gossip about a famous monarch coming out as gay, which led to Kensington Palace’s Press Secretary to place a call. What they didn’t know couldn’t hurt them, right?

“I have one more thing to say: outing someone is never right. You should never take away someone’s right to disclose their personal information. My life may be a rather public affair to some, but before that, I was raised as a normal kid. I deserve respect, but more importantly,  _ all  _ people do. I don’t care what your nationality, sexuality, gender identity, race, or religion is. That is  _ your  _ information and anyone out there who tries to take that from you is a coward. They’re scared of you being your best, most comfortable self. They want to rip that away from you. I guarantee you, though, that there are people who will love and embrace you for you. They may be blood or not,” he smiled over at Perrie, eyes and face still turned to her as he spoke, “but they will have your back.” He turned his attention back to the cameras as Perrie gently patted his forearm. “Most importantly, they will help you realize you deserve every right everyone else does. You all are worthy of love and attention and representation. It’s my intent to make that clear in my years leading up to my coronation and I hope you’re all as proud as I am that I can say this: I  _ will  _ be the King of England, the reigning monarch of the United Kingdom, and I will do that as an out gay man.”

He wasn’t sure what he expected. Part of him had hoped for silence, another part for applause. What he got, instead, was applause. The press, Niall, and even Perrie, were applauding him. It didn’t stop there. They stood. They  _ all  _ stood, and he was sure he even heard Niall whistling at the back of the room. It was hard not to break into a grin at that, even more so when he thought about how six weeks ago, this had never even been a possibility in his mind.

He took a deep breath, “Thank you very much, but I do have one more thing to address.” He was all soft smiles and endearing blue eyes when he spoke again, once the crowd winded down and sat back down. “I’m currently seeing Mr. Styles, yes. It’s very new. We’ve only been seeing each other for a month. However, I do not want that to ever make you believe his accomplishments with his new charity are because of this. When you all formally meet Harry — which will happen, once the plans for this charity come to fruition — you will understand that he’s incredibly kind-hearted. We want to help protect the country’s young people. We want to give you places to go all throughout the country. For the time being, we’d appreciate not being asked about it. If you photograph us, please only do so in public at formal events. We are not interested in being a spectacle; we’re two men in a relationship. We deserve space and privacy, just like any one of you. We also expect Perrie and her significant other to be treated the same way as well.”

Perrie smiled softly at him, giving his arm another squeeze, before turning back to the cameras with Louis.

“Any questions? Please don’t ask us to repeat anything we’ve already stated. This will come out in a press release shortly after we’re done here and all your outlets will receive it.” Louis looked around the room, wondering if anyone was brave enough to speak up.

The one person he noticed, more than anyone, was a young woman who sat up straight and had her hand poised perfectly straight in the air. “Yes, ma’am?” He nodded towards her, leading to her standing up and smiling sweetly at him. It wasn’t sickly or false like most sweet smiles he received, which was refreshing.

“I’d like to start by thanking you both for being so honest. It’s refreshing and I am so very sorry a member of the press made you feel like you had to do this, but I would just like to know, Louis, do you think you will be the first monarch to ever marry someone of the same gender?”

Louis smirked, “If you’re asking if I’d marry Harry, I don’t think it’s to that stage yet, love.” He teased, laughing softly, “But it rhymes, so I’d definitely consider it.” A few members of the press laughed, as well as Perrie, who nudged his shin with the toe of her heel. “I hopefully will be. I just pray more people get the opportunity to live their most authentic lives possible, no matter if I’m the prince, the king, or a monarch from centuries ago. I only hope we progress as a country and a global society so that no one even thinks to out another person against their will. My biggest fear is for young people who  _ can’t  _ be proactive like I have been. I hope they know how wrong it is and how they did nothing wrong, even if it feels like they were wrong not to tell people. I know how that feels.”

Perrie turned her attention to the press fully and smiled, “Next question?” She nodded politely at a woman in the front row.

“Hello, Ms. Edwards. Is there any truth to the rumor that your significant other is Assistant Press Secretary Niall Horan?”

Perrie smirked, fiddling with a piece of her ponytail that had gotten flipped over her shoulder. “Well, Mr. Ember — may I call you that? — I believe that’s quite personal,” she said, pausing. Louis looked up past the press and saw Niall give her a very subtle nod and a scratch of his jaw.

He couldn’t believe Niall had come up with codes to use during this press conference. Then again, if anyone would, it would be Niall. He bit his lip to stop from laughing as Perrie continued.

“However, I will say that I am dating Mr. Horan. We’ve been friends for ages now; the public is quite aware that the three of us,” she nodded towards Louis as well, a smile on her face, “have been best friends since we were toddlers. It was only natural, I think, for us to eventually become involved. I’d like to let everyone know that when we’re here at Kensington Palace, it will be strictly business, just as Louis and I have tried to keep things when we have attended meetings in the past. Above all else, all three — four, including Mr. Styles — are dedicated to making this country the best we can. Our interpersonal relationships have nothing to do with that; if anything, those relationships make us better communicators and better people rather than hinder or distract us.”

Louis smiled, “I couldn’t agree more.” He noticed Niall in the back of the room, his hand doing rapid circular motions.  _ Wrap it up.  _ Louis could do that. In fact, he’d be  _ more  _ than happy to get out of his suit and get back to Harry. “We have time for one last question.”

This time it was a man who Perrie called on, but the question was for him. “Your Highness, what would you say to anyone who’s ever struggled with their sexuality? Any words of wisdom?”

Louis took a deep breath, letting it out in a sigh. “Wow, that’s quite the loaded question. Well, I can say that every person’s journey to accepting their situation is uniquely individual. I will say that I was never pushed to come out or to hide my sexuality. It was more like an open secret. We all knew, but it wasn’t anything we really spoke about. I think mum and I both knew what would happen if I came out and then took the throne. I remember her asking me when I was younger, when it was pretty obvious that Perrie and I would end up getting married, if I was okay with making that sacrifice and I told her I would.

“For me, this has been all about doing what I thought was right for my country despite my true feelings. I realised, as soon as I was finally exposed to seeing someone I could  _ actually  _ fall in love with, that I wasn’t doing what was right. I’d be living a lie and showing the whole country — the whole world — that that was okay. Some people have circumstances that make coming out hard. I certainly do. I know a lot of people won’t like knowing this about me, but I cannot live a lie. This is only one part of who I am. I’m also a brother, a son, a student, a graduate, and a leader. I’m just lucky I get to be honest. If you can’t be honest, that’s okay; your closet is your business and if it protects you and you’re scared, that’s okay. I’d say as long as you’re not harming anyone or your safety is in danger, living your life without telling anyone about your sexuality is your decision. I couldn’t live with the lie anymore and I certainly couldn’t let someone else tell my truth for me.”

Perrie was rubbing his shoulder gently. He gave her a soft smile before turning back towards the press. “I’m afraid that’s all for today. Thank you for your time. We appreciate you all coming.”

**xxxxxxxxxx**

Harry couldn’t stop smiling. He was glad that Leigh-Anne wasn’t judging him for tearing up (or full on crying and sniffling, whatever). She would be quite the hypocrite if she were, considering she was crying silently beside him, too. He gently nudged the tissue box closer as Louis and Perrie finished up. “He’s incredible, isn’t he?” Harry asked softly, turning back to the television to watch Perrie and Louis stand up, their arms around each other for a few brief pictures.

“I’m so glad Perrie’s a genius,” she said, voice quiet in the room, which was filled with a few other people, including James, Nick, and even Lottie and Tommy. They were all going to go out to an early dinner to celebrate, which he assumed was Leigh’s motivation to grab a few tissues and pat underneath her eyes and over her cheeks. He did the same thing, smiling softly as Lottie came up and unabashedly grabbed a whole wad of them to wipe her eyes and blow her nose into.

Lottie gave Harry a smile, “You should be quite proud of yourself. I don’t think there’s any other man Louis would risk his life for like this.”

Harry blushed, despite not agreeing with the comment. “He had to. He had no choice, Lots. It was this or let Dan Wootton get his way. He also did it for himself. I think he would have gotten there eventually, with or without me or Dan Wootton being a prick.”

She nodded her head, “That may be true, but you’re forgetting that he kissed you outside his apartment. He’s never even had a steady boyfriend before you. I think he knew the risks involved; he wouldn’t have even let anyone come to his place before you.”

“Are you two talking about me?” Louis asked, smiling as he approached the small group with Perrie and Niall in tow, who stopped to talk to Nick and James.

Harry grinned, “No.”

Lottie smirked, “Always.” She took a step forward, pulling her older brother into a gigantic hug. “We’re so proud of you. Mum said she’ll be joining us for dinner tonight, but she may be late. She said she had a few calls to make.”

Louis pulled away, a concerned look on her face. “Calls? Like, normal business calls or ‘I have to deal with bigots who can’t stand that my son’s gay’ calls?”

Without even thinking about it, Harry had his hand on the small of his back and was pressed into his side. “I’m sure it’s the first one, Lou,” he reasoned, “Besides, she has much more important issues to deal with than bigots. Charities, Parliament, Trump…”

Tommy scoffed, “Let’s not mention  _ him.  _ James nearly had a conniption the other day trying to deal with his people. If he overhears, that vein in his neck may burst open.”

“Yeah, Tommy’s right.” Lottie nodded before looking at Harry, “But so are you. Mum didn’t specify what kind of calls they were. Let’s just get going, okay?”

Leigh-Anne stood up, nodding in agreement. “Let’s go,” she said, grabbing her bag from the side of the loveseat and putting it in the crook of her arm. She and Lottie began to chat and Tommy followed behind, beginning a conversation with Niall and Nick as James and Perrie led the way out.

“Hey, are you okay?” Harry asked, resting his hands on Louis’ waistline.

Louis nodded his head, “Yeah.” He laughed, the sound coming out choked and his eyes were watering. “I just can’t believe I actually came out.”

Harry sighed, “You were forced out, Louis. Even with Perrie’s idea, this wasn’t- This wasn’t the intention of us being together at all. I never meant for us being together to end with you having to come out.” He stared down at his hands on Louis’ waist and Louis’ hands where they had come to settle on his forearms, chuckling softly. “Well, that’s a bit of a lie. I guess I hoped that it’d happen, but not this soon. We barely know each other.”

“Us being together had nothing to do with it. Dan Wootton is scum; he would’ve tried his best to get some dirt on me somehow. If it weren’t me, he’d have dug into Niall and Perrie’s feelings for each other. I’d rather it be me than her. She wouldn’t have had to hide her feelings for him if not for me in the first place,” Louis reasoned, shrugging his shoulders and squeezing Harry’s arms. “Let’s not dwell on this, okay? It’s done and over with now. We’re out and you’re dating the man who’ll be the first king England has has in the 21st century. I think we should go celebrate that, okay?”

It was hard not to argue with his logic, especially when he was looking at Harry with those eyes. He also knew, in a sense, that Louis was right. He’d heard from Sophia before how horrific The Sun was; he could only imagine what would have come from this had it not been Louis getting a heads up about the article and submitting a statement through Niall.

They’d be okay. Hopefully, Dan would learn his lesson from all this. That’s all Harry could hope for at the moment. Well, that and Louis’ happiness.

He leaned in closer, “Sure. Let’s go. I think what you just did deserves a good congratulations kiss, though, don’t you?” He nuzzled their noses together, cueing a soft chuckle from Louis.

“Well, I’m not going to argue with that, Haz,” he mumbled into Harry’s lips as Harry sealed them together.

Harry’s kiss was light and soft, Louis matching it with just as much tenderness and gratefulness. For the first time all day, Louis felt relaxed underneath Harry’s hands. It was a stark contrast to how nervous he’d seemed all day. Harry nipped at his lip, not surprised at all when Louis sighed into the kiss and licked over his lip.

“Hey now,” Harry said, voice full of faux admonition. “None of that. We need to get going or else-”

There was a loud sigh behind them and the sound of a foot tapping.

Harry turned around, feeling Louis peeking around his shoulder. “Yes, Niall?”

“Don’t act all innocent, Harold. We have a reservation to get to and we have no time for the two of you to slow us down with making out. Certainly not very professional, now, is it?” He crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow.

Louis shook his head, clearly fond of the brunet. “Best not to keep Horan waiting. You’d swear  _ he  _ was the one ruling the country,” he murmured, earning a snicker from Harry as Niall turned around and led them down the hall.

“I heard that!”

**xxxxxxxxxx**

It was quite surreal to be surrounded by the people who meant the most to him. Most of his siblings were missing, but the majority of the people at the table were the ones he saw on a daily basis.

Perhaps the most unusual thing was to be seated at the same table as his mum, but not stuck in the palace. It had been at least a solid five years — or longer — since this had happened. It was more surreal when he looked to his left and saw Harry and his right and saw Perrie leaning over and whispering about the food to Niall.

It was just nice. He met his mother’s eyes from across the table. She’s obviously gotten the head of the rectangular table and everyone insisted he get used to sitting at the head as well, even if he wouldn’t be ruling the country for quite some time yet. (His mother had even been one of the ones to insist, after a gentle tease of “of all the things you’ve done today,  _ this  _ is something that’s hard for you? My sweet Lou, sit down!”)

“Lou,” Harry whispered, rubbing at his knee with a soft smile on his face. “Do you want to give a little speech?”

After all the talking he’d done today, Louis shook his head. “I think the press conference misled you, H. I’m not much of a speech guy,” he insisted, leaning forward to press a kiss to Harry’s lips. He pulled back with a smile, “But if you’d like to make one, you are more than welcome to, baby.”

Harry rolled his eyes, “That doesn’t seem appropriate. I didn’t do anything significant today. You just became the first out royal in England’s history.”

Louis scoffed, shaking his head. “You supported me and didn’t go running as soon as this nearly turned into a PR disaster. A lot of men — well, people, really — wouldn’t have been so kind.” He put his hand over Harry’s, giving it a squeeze.

“What are you two talking about?” James asked from down the table, on Jay’s right side.

She raised her eyebrows as well. “We’d love to know,” she smirked.

Louis shook his head as Harry sat up with a smile on his face and a blush, too. The man was incapable of not being adorably smitten and Louis was so  _ endeared  _ that his face hurt from how hard he was trying to contain it. “Just thanking Haz for sticking around. Not many people would have in this situation… Or even given me the time of day after we kept running into each other. I would’ve been annoyed with myself.”

“Really? I kept running into you, too, technically, but you gave  _ me  _ the time of day. You’re too hard on yourself,” Harry pointed out. He turned his hand over in Louis’, giving it a squeeze.

All Louis could do was shake his head, bringing Harry’s hands to his lips to kiss it gently.

Before Louis could even address Harry with words, there was a flash of light and he was only slightly surprised to see that his mother was the culprit. “You may be a queen, but you’re still an obsessive mother.” He smirked, proud to see her smiling in response.

“When have I ever claimed to be anything but? I decided to be a mother before I decided to be the Queen, didn’t I?”

Harry smiled. “You do an excellent job of both. It’s obvious, from up close and afar.”

Jay levelled Harry with a soft smile, the kind she reserved for Tommy when he talked about a future with Lottie or the littlest twins when they said something awfully philosophical for toddlers. “Thank you, Harry. It’s quite easy when you have great children. Speaking of, my son has  _ excellent  _ taste in partners.” She looked over at Perrie and Niall. “Romantic  _ and _ platonic.”

“Thank you, Johannah,” Perrie smiled, looking all over the room and holding up her glass, “I think we should have a toast to all of us. We’ve handled this whole ordeal rather well.”

Niall nodded, “And we’ve all become more honest. Lou, c’mon. Raise your glass.”

As much as he didn’t want to, Louis raised his glass, sure this was just Perrie’s way of trying to give him a toast. “Fine, fine. What are we toasting to, exactly? Specifics, Ms. Edwards.” He had a smirk on his face, clearly challenging her.

“I think…” She paused. “We need to toast ourselves for being honest, yes, but also for following our hearts. I know this isn’t what we all intended-”

She was cut off by James letting out a loud sigh, “God, no. This was  _ definitely  _ not the ideal way to break this news.”

_ “But  _ we all did what we could to remedy the situation and I think we showed the media around the world that the royal family is  _ not  _ to be messed with, even the unofficial members.”

Niall smirked, “You mean the almost-duchess and the staff?”

She pouted, “I’m staff too!”

Niall laughed softly, pressing a chaste kiss to her lips. “I’m kidding, I’m kidding,” he decided, resting his forehead against her temple.

From across the table, Nick cleared his throat. “The toast, Pez?”

She snapped out of it, pulling her head back. “Oh! Right! To the family, all members official and unofficial, for putting our best foot forward even when it wasn’t easy.” She held her glass closer to the middle of the table, “Cheers!”

Everyone else leaned forward and held their arms out, clinking glasses with those they could reach.

Louis made eye contact with Jay, nodding at her and raising his cup to her. “Cheers to mum for being the best monarch England has ever seen!”

“Cheers!” Everyone raised their glasses again and Johannah shook her head at her son, but smiled as they all bumped their glasses into hers.

Jay opened her mouth — probably about to say something humble about how unnecessary it was to do that — when numerous phones let out tones and vibrates around their table. Even Paul, Alberto, Paddy, and Basil’s phones all made noises from their posts around the private room they’d rented.

Louis pulled out his phone, sure that it was a weather alert or — even worse — some horrific story about Louis and Perrie’s situation, only to see it was quite the opposite.

_ BBC News _

_ BREAKING: The Sun announces the newspaper will be shutting down in early 2018 due to “financial struggles” _

He couldn’t help it. His mind instantly went to what Lottie said other.  _ Business calls.  _ His head, and eyes, snapped up to meet Jay’s, who was meeting his eyes and sipping at her red wine with a look of power on her face, like she was fully aware of what that breaking news notification had been for.

“Holy shit,” Harry muttered, then cringed at his use of the swear word. He looked at Johannah instantly, “I’m sorry. Language.”

Jay simply smiled at him, “It’s quite all right, Harry. The Sun and Dan Wootton can both rot in hell for all I care.” She looked around the table, with all eyes on her, and raised her glass. “To karma, love, and the future.”

The room broke out in smiles and a cry of “cheers!” from all corners.

Louis met Jay’s eyes once more, smirking into his glass as she winked at him. He set his glass down, instantly turning to Harry. “I was thinking…” He trailed off, “Niall and Perrie are looking for places. Do you want to move in with me?”

Harry grinned, his dimple instantly popping. “Honestly? I have so many things at your place, it’s a shame I don’t already live there.” He gave Louis’ hand a squeeze, kissing him softly on the mouth before pulling away. “What will they say? ‘Prince Louis moves in with Harry Styles only a month and a half after meeting’?” He was smirking, pushing a piece of Louis’ hair off of his face since the gel in his hair was definitely wearing off.

“I think,” Louis began, “we’ll deal with that very well. They can’t say anything we won’t be prepared for.”

Harry smirked, “Thank God for that, huh?” He kissed Louis again. “We’re moving awfully fast, you know?” He rubbed his thumb over the back of Louis’ hand. “Won’t your mum be a little terrified if you have that 2018 wedding with me?”

Frankly, Louis couldn’t tell if Harry was teasing or not, but the idea of a 2018 wedding with Harry… Well…

“I’m sure she’ll be  _ more  _ than eager to help in any possible way she can.”

Part of him wanted to write the announcement himself.

**xxxxxxxxxx**

**_Official Statement from Kensington Palace Press Secretaries_ **

_ Despite the current rumours circulating, Prince Louis and Harry Styles have not planned or set a wedding date for 2018. His Royal Highness is finishing his studies while Mr. Styles embarks upon the six month of Afternoons for Adolescents’ official launch. _

_ Prince Louis and Mr. Styles both want the public to know of their future plans from their own mouths: “Harry and I are pleased to announce we are engaged to be married. While no date is set, we are looking forward to planning the wedding for a late 2019 ceremony, which will be the first televised same-sex marriage in world history. We’d like to thank the public for their endless support on social media, in public, and at the polls for electing more advocates for LGBTQIA+ representation. We both appreciate it and we’re sure our fellow community members do as well. We send you all our love and appreciation for the support, for us and for others around you, because it doesn’t go unnoticed. We hope to serve you incredibly well as the Dukes of Cambridge, which will be our official title upon marriage. We would also like to thank this time to congratulate our beautiful friends, Niall and Perrie Horan, on their new marriage and hope to join you in wedded bliss as soon as possible.” _

_ Queen Johannah and the rest of the Royal Family are more than happy to have a new addition to their family in Mr. Harry Styles. _

_ Kensington Palace wishes nothing but happiness to the happy couple and we look forward to giving you updates on the couple’s future as Dukes and, eventually, Kings of England. _


End file.
